


The Songs We'd Sing

by Whynoteh



Category: RWBY
Genre: Adventure, Angst, Drama, F/F, F/M, Friendship, Long Runner, Romance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-04-10
Updated: 2016-04-16
Packaged: 2018-03-22 04:34:30
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 28
Words: 115,474
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3715213
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Whynoteh/pseuds/Whynoteh
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The sequel to A Knight, A Champion, A Rose. Follow our beloved characters in their second year at Beacon where relationships get more complicated, evil shows more of their cards, tensions increase in general, and the Grimm grow restless. Gives focus to all characters and attention to OCs, but follows Ruby, Jaune, and Pyrrha mainly like the first part. All genres and warnings apply.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. End Of Summer Days

It amazed Ren. It really did. Even after all these years, he could still draw his finger across the burnt wood of the dilapidated village and paint his digit black. Then again, that was only one thing that fascinated the tranquil black haired boy.  
The scarlet trees of autumn surrounding the ashen ruins glowed with such beauty in the morning sunlight, almost forgetful that once they were witness to the bloodshed of undeserving lives. Nay, not almost, totally, life had continued as per usual for the local fauna, humanity but a passing figment of news to the stream of time and nature. This irony of the serenity in the woods surrounding this once terrible yet common tragedy brought a smirk to his face. If he couldn't change the past, then there was no point in wallowing in it, and any good that could be gleamed from it was worth it.  
In the midst of his contemplation, the birds chirping happily in the background silenced, and from the concealment of the dark bark of the trees came charging a smaller deathstalker. Ren casually turned to see it's approach, saw it, then sighed. It being the day before the new year at Beacon starts, the boy figured he could warm himself up, ready himself for the new term, and decided so that he would take care of business without his Storm Flowers; a self-imposed challenge.  
A minute later, Ren walked away from a headless corpse.  
-  
A tear rolled down Pyrrha's cheek, for this would be the second time she would have to leave her father all by himself again. The tall aged man laid still asleep on the couch with their family photo album clutched in his arms, the raising beams of morning sun yet to reach his face through the blinds of the living room. Before leaving, she leaned over and laid a gentle kiss on his forehead, gave a whisper of goodbye, and left a note on the counter. She felt it was only appropriate for such care, for the equally gentle man had raised her, in her opinion, as well as he could've given their circumstances.  
Walking down her front lawn path as she wiped away her sniffles and tears, she gave a smile to the nostalgia she felt as she past the little makeshift arena of sandbags and fence posts where her grandfather trained her initially as a kid. She looked up and around herself to the other houses hidden in the hills and trees, chuckling as she remembered all the times she and her grandfather accidentally shot one of the neighbors houses, and then her grandpa would make her apologize for what he more than not did himself.  
She made her way to the main road at the bottom of the hill, an archway of green trees that had not yet gotten the message that fall was coming marking the bus stop. She packed fairly lightly, half her stuff being already at Beacon, she only needed a single duffle bag for her gear and travel clothes. Pyrrha dropped said duffle bag in front of the metal post with the bus stop times on it and sat down on the rotting wooden bench, a small ember of excitement for the new year igniting within her chest. Among other things, she would finally get to see Jaune again.  
-  
The village's help wanted board was nearly void of odd jobs thanks to Nora and Ren, the former standing in front said board proudly. Up to this point, they had found lost items, killed pesky Grimm, helped build things, collected wood, made runs, babysat kids, and even cooked for parties. The only jobs left on the board were jobs needing skills the ginger was sure she and her childhood friends weren't suited for, one being tax filing, another plumbing, and a final one revolving around writing up computer programs. Ren might've been able to do the tax filing, but there wasn't any time left anyways before they best leave for Beacon, no time except to enjoy their last morning in their village.  
The valkyrie skipped away from the wood peg board and wandered around the small busy town, balancing herself along roadside rocks as she greeted the passing pedestrians who knew her so well. Balancing was strange for the girl however, not in the way that it was difficult, no, it was still easy as she hopped rock to rock, but the change in her outfit had changed the weight distribution and therefore changed the setup she had gotten so used to. Her mother had lengthened her skirt and added white shorts similar to Yang's getup to mature Nora's look, while her father made taller boots with steel bottoms to give more protection. In the spirit of things, Nora made herself silver gray elbow armor that wrapped around her lonesome white sleeves, with soft rubber on the inside of the metal to absorb more of the force from her increasingly heavy blows.  
She wasn't the only one arming up however, as just in her village alone the effects of yesteryear's events had shown their mark as a call to increase military participation ended up culling young adults away from home and into service, an increase of taxes to afford military training and arming, and every gunmaker and armor smith one could find were backed up with custom orders. Just a couple years before, Nora would skip around her usual path and maybe see a single patrol of soldiers or rather a team of Hunters, but now there were droves of new recruits out and about on their training runs.  
No matter though, she thought, once Ren makes it back from his walk, the two of them would finally make their trek back into Vale and to Beacon, where then they will hopefully get some fun missions to flex their muscles.  
-  
Jaune had it down to formula. He would count his winnings in plain sight, facing the bartender, then some too-drunk brawler would come up from behind and plant Jaune's face into the countertop. Jaune pretended that this man's sneak attack stunned him. While the disheveled and messy looking boy stumbled about for a couple seconds, the other man would punch him a couple times, and the neck-long blond hair would hide Jaune's calculating eyes. Jaune fell, and the men in the bar who had lost in their fight to the boy would cheer on the challenger, said challenger shaking their arms in triumph to his peers, unaware of the boy as he stood up to tackle the challenger. The onlookers cheered even louder and threw more lien onto the betting table as Jaune wrestled the larger man. They broke away, putting only about three feet between them. The man blinked, and in that moment Jaune kicked out his shin, bringing him to his knee, then elbowed him one way, then round house punched him the other, knocking the challenger out. The bar erupted into a maelstrom of both happy cheers and angry cheers, some winners and some losers.  
Jaune collected his winnings and took a shot of free mystery liquor from the jolly bartender and stumbled out into the bright sunny streets with people patting him on the back on the way out. Even at high noon, this one pub Jaune had found would always be filled to the brim with restless men ready to pay to see a fight, and in being so lively was a hot spot for Jaune to earn some cash.  
He walked away from the busy store front, dropping his tired and hurt act as made his way to his tent underneath a freeway overpass, his Huntsmen gear still safe and sound in it's hiding spot behind a dead bush. For the two months of summer vacation, the boy had made his wallet fat through performing with the guitar Pyrrha got for him and of course, pub brawls, for the coming year to pay the annual fee of housing, classes, and of course, the inevitable paying for his team's outings and dinners. As sacrifice though, he had spent the last two months living practically homeless, his hair long, his face hidden away by a light beard, and his clothes dirty. He saw it as good training.  
But it was done now. He packed up his tent into his bag along with his Huntsmen gear, his money, and made pilgrimage to Beacon, the thought of a hot shower glistening in his mind right up there with a proper bed and human interaction beyond scamming middle aged men to pay for one-sided fights.  
-  
Her baby was perfect once again. Yang opened the garage door and rolled out her oldster super bike, the 8 speed 715' 1000cc turbo charged Bumblebee, the East Vacuo's Motors Company's pride and joy, nearly 30 years old and still popular among bikers for it's free rotation brakes, turbo air intake, all terrain fat tires, black steel tube chassis that just won't quit, and 50 miles to a gallon, a generous number for a bike of it's grade and cost. Her father's gift to her from his youth, she made sure it was completely restored after getting wrecked the year previous after the freeway incident with Roman's Atlesian Paladin shenanigans.  
The engine roared like a tiger when she rolled the throttle, music to her ears. The heavy man who owned the small garage complex, Joe Hazel, let out a equally loud laugh of accomplishment, proud of his hand in fixing the bike. His brother, the Squad Leader of the First Squad of Vale's First Division, Cpt. Hazel Sharpshooter Class, patted his brother's back in delight as the purr of the motor got his heart running too.  
Yang strapped on her helmet and stylishly flicked out her aviators for dramatic effect, putting them on only after making a pun about how 'it looks like this bumblebee... is buzzin'.' She motioned with her hand forward and a bored Neptune who arrived a day too early mounted onto the back of the bike, the two brunette men left in the garage waving goodbye as the two youngsters soared off onto the early afternoon streets of Vale.  
Yang sped onto the on-ramp for Beacon, only recently discovering that there was a long round about way to get from Beacon to Vale and back that was only practical if one drove fast enough, which she did, and was combat ready enough to fight any Grimm that may reside on the road, which she was. The freeway lead to a exit from town that lead to a abandoned road that winded through the woods up all the rear of Beacon, somewhere she had never been till she discovered the road on a map, and through inquiry found out that it was behind Beacon that the older students kept their vehicles, the few of them that did anyways.  
It was there that was her destination, and as she illegally passed by cars at a 120 miles per hour, the police scanners reading her license plate and upon identifying her as a huntress in training, dropped interest in her and continued watch over their respectful areas.  
-  
Blake was cranky as she woke from her nap. Sun's wild sand dune driving did not lend itself to smooth sailing, it was too hot, and the stress of cutting the time close left both of them on edge. If Sun kept up the pace, they would most likely catch their airship from Vacuo to Vale by 5', but if he flipped their dune buggy again, not only would they miss it, but Blake would probably kill Sun too.  
She laid back in her seat, letting out a heavy sigh. Sun was babbling on about something or another, but Blake had little interest, putting more thought into buckling her boot back up. She had given up on her old outfit and took to wearing her intruder set more often ever since Weiss pointed out that the vest accentuated her breast and her tights left little to the imagination, greatly embarrassing the feline. Only problem was, the jacket was a little too thick for her time in the summer time desert of Vacuo, so she had kept that packed away too, leaving only her pants, boots, and tank top.  
The wind rushing past them was nice though, still hot, but nice. She had all of her gear and her jacket packed up in her neat little black bag by her feat, and it was a nice enough scene where she could hold onto the handles of the roll cage and relax as Sun tore through sand and conversation topics. She didn't have to worry about making decisions, about setting goals, or worry about anything really, she just had to wait while she headed somewhere, and as such, she let the dune buggy rock her back to sleep.  
-  
They had an agreement. Penny wouldn't talk, Weiss wouldn't be mean to her. They got along on these terms as well as one could get along with Weiss while she was at home. The two of them practically ran out the front door of the Schnee mansion, ran free of the cold stone training halls and empty dining rooms, free from the name sake icy personality of Mr. Schnee, and ran onto the personal airship already loaded with dust and equipment and heading to Beacon.  
On the small and speedy airship, Weiss separated herself from Penny and hid inside the bathroom. She pulled out her makeup kit and rolled up her flared out sleeves, frowning as she counted another two faint scars along her right arm. Using her expertise in blending and application of mascara, she hid the multitude of scars well enough that only someone looking for imperfections would be able to tell. She pulled up her skirt and did the same with her legs and thighs, happy to see there were no new additions from the summer this time, only the old ones.  
Once she was done with that, she packed up her kit and looked in the mirror one last time before going, sadly noting that her hair had gone whiter, even if it was a indistinguishable amount, a amount she could tell, and so too her eyes had gone ever so slightly grayer. She left the bathroom before it upset her too much.  
Penny sat with her tool box quietly and sorry looking, careful not to disturb Weiss's calm by existing too intrusively. The duelist told the robot girl she could relax, as they had already left the house and that there would be no more worry for a while. Penny listened, and so smiled at Weiss, asking her if she was excited to be going back to Beacon.  
Weiss told Penny to stay quiet at least, but answered her question anyways as she peered out the window into the cold sunset. The duelist said she was in fact excited to be going back, but said the destination could be anywhere, and she would still be glad to go, as long as it wasn't home.  
-  
Ruby found very few pictures in the attic, and cursed her parents for being such lousy lazy picture takers with only a handful of photographs to remind them of past moments. She had in hand a couple however with her mother in them, hidden away at the bottom of a dusty box upstairs. One had the whole family plus a bored Qrow moving into their current house out on the island outside Vale, Taiyang jokingly kicking down the door incase there were Grimm waiting inside. Summer was holding both Yang and herself, Ruby, and was covered from view, but her white cloak was impossible to not recognize. It was anybodies guess however who took the picture though.  
The other picture was of Taiyang and Summer sleeping together on the couch in front of the tv, looking oh so peaceful, oh so natural, what with Taiyang in his underwear and a torn plaid shirt and untrimmed beard covered in drool, and Summer wrapped three times over in a blanket on top of him with her messy black hair covering her face. Yang must've taken that picture.  
Ruby understood why then Yang gave her that family diner photo last St. David's Day, as that must've been the only one Yang could find where Summer's face was uncovered and unfiltered. 

"Thanks Yang," Ruby whispered to herself with a smile.

She put the two photos back into the box and dropped the lid, sending dust flying everywhere. She stood with haste and rubbed her face violently. She sneezed several times and couldn't see out of her one good eye which hurt terribly. Once her sneezing fit was over and snot was flowing freely from her nose, she tried to get the dust out from under her eye lid, but found it was a vain attempt. She blinked furiously and rolled her head around to find a more comfortable position, but found nothing to alleviate the irritation and lack of vision she was experiencing. Ruby stumbled around until she found the stairs leading down, and fell through, making a large enough racket on the way down to attract the attention of her dad.

He came running in, a worried look on his face. "Ruby what was that- oh! What's wrong Ruby? What's the matter?" he asked, seeing tears run down from her one eye.

She cried "I got something in my eye" as she pawed around to find the doorway and rubbed at her face in vain.

The distant man tried and confiding in the girl, "It's okay, you can tell me whats wrong..."

She reached into a doorway with her outstretched arm and walked head first into the doorframe, repeating herself, "No! I got dust in my eye, take me to a sink!"

He lead her hand to the kitchen sink where she spent the next ten minutes rinsing her eye out with warm water while Taiyang took to reading in his study again, drifting off to some lost melancholy. Finally, her eyelids were clean enough where she could at least see for a moment before needing to blink repeatedly again.  
This issue brought up a worry for Ruby: If she only had the one eye, and all it took was for some debris to completely blind her or put her into a sneezing fit long enough for her enemy to take advantage of her, then she was setting herself up for failure.  
She pondered solutions, when fairly quickly it seemed obvious for what she needed to do. She had the night before she had to leave for Beacon in the morning, so she figured it was enough time to make herself some accessories.  
Several hours later, she walked into Taiyang's study, nothing different about her in particular apart from the wicked looking black gas mask covering the lower half of her face and the left side of a old fashioned pilot's goggles covering her good eye.

The gas mask amplified every breath from Ruby, every breath in sounding like a vacuum while every out sounded like a sigh of exhaustion. "What do ya think?" she asked her father, her voice muffled by the mask.

He looked up in a daze at his daughter, simply humming "hmmm" before going back to his business.

She sighed in disappointment. She didn't really expect him to react much as she and Yang knew him well enough by now to know how withdrawn he had become. The small girl opened her mask and lifted her goggle, finding her way to her old bed and turning herself in for the night. She had hoped to spend some quality time with Taiyang, but her two months were gone, and nothing she had been willing to do caught his attention. At least though, she thought, returning to Beacon would end her Summer sadness.

-End Chapter 1-


	2. Catching Up

It was quiet within the modest household, Ruby being the only one awake. Looking out from underneath her covers to the backdrop of woods outside her window, she could see that the sun was only now peeking out from behind the horizon, meaning she had several hours till she had to leave.  
The small girl sat up in her bed, the cold crisp morning air earning a shiver out of her as it chilled her exposed arms and neck. Zwei was sleeping at her feet still. His body raised and fell with a gentle rhythm in tune with his breath, and his eyes squinted as if he were sad, but Ruby knew better; dog faces were just different from humans. Pulling her feet out towards her as to not wake the gray corgi, she slipped out of bed and found her way to the shower down the hall, tip-toeing all the way along the dark wood floors.  
As per usual, the water may have been nice and hot but the first moment she spent under it's stream, a wave of cold flitted across her skin as the pale flesh cooled the first waves of water before matching temperatures. She went through her daily ritual, first she would take off her head wrap and wash that with shampoo along with her hair, then she would pull open her right eyelids and rinse out her eye socket briefly, then she would wash the rest of her body.  
Brushing her teeth in front of the mirror, Ruby grinned widely while she looked at her body's reflection. She didn't think of herself as a narcissist in any way, but she could admire the fact that her body was developing just fine and as a huntress she was quite fit and... supple she thought. Adorable too. 

"16 and rockin it..." she quietly chuckled.

It was always nice to know oneself is doing fine, especially when one knows who their competing with. In that vein of thought, a stroke of pity fell upon Ruby when she thought about Weiss, her partner whom was frankly lacking in the chest. Ruby sighed and clucked her tongue against her teeth, thinking 'at least she's really pretty.'  
Fully dressed in her clothes of which were identical to how they started from last year, except with silver fur hemming on the hood, she pulled Crescent Rose out from underneath her pillows. The red and black wicked mass hooked to her belt on her lower back, the weight comforting to the Huntress. She tenderly drifted her small hand over Zwei's fur, the sleeping dog nuzzling his wet nose into the covers in comfort.

In almost a croak, Ruby whispered "Goodbye, Zwei." A look of longing overlaid her face.

She turned and left the room, grabbing her suitcase on the way out. Deciding against saying goodbye to Taiyang, Ruby took the early morning ferry from Patch to Vale, from where she then took the short airship ride to Beacon.  
While on the ship, Cardin Winchester and his teammate Dove Bronzewing approached the petite Huntress, both leaning against the same railing as her.

"Hey." Cardin looked out over Vale with tire in his eyes.

Ruby yawned. "Hi."

Cardin itched his chin, a faint stubble visible to anyone looking wrapped around his mouth. "So uh, Ozpin contacted me over the summer. Supposedly we're getting a new team member."

"Oh really?" she sincerely asked. After Sky Lark had been killed the previous year, team CRDL has been team CRD and severely lacking. They could only perform low importance tasks that never allowed them to stretch their muscles and grow as fighters, something they really needed except for maybe Dove. To top it off, none of them were allowed to attend Sky's funeral; his family refused it.

"Yeah, someone from Mistral whose transferring. I don't know what they're going to do about the team she's leaving, but Ozpin told me she's the fourth spot on our team now. Some girl named Robin Pine," he shrugged his shoulders, "I don't know, maybe it'll work out."

Ruby chuckled. "The only problem I see is three hormone enraged boys sharing a room with a single girl..." she turned around as she said it, leaning her back instead into the railing as to look over the freshman roaming the ship.

"Yeah yeah yeah, whatever. For all you know, I already have a lady friend, so..."

"Do you?" she raised her only visible eyebrow.

"No" he mumbled.

"There you go. Anything you want to add Dove?" she teased. Dove was nearly mute, a fact that team RWBY was embarrassed to have learned only towards the end of the last school year.

Dove lifted his middle finger lazily. Ruby smiled.

"Wait... Robin Pine, right?" she asked curiously. Cardin nodded. "I remember that name, I've heard it somewhere..."

"Maybe from the tournament last year" the grey knight suggested.

Ruby folded her arms, "maybe," she ventured. She furrowed her brow in stern concentration, running through the distant memories of yesteryear. While she did this, two giggling freshman girls turned to see Ruby's glare, which was directed at a wall behind them, and had shivers run down their spine. They scuttled off to the opposite side of the ship.

"Anyways, how up to date are you on things?" the tall boy asked, breaching her concentration.

"What do you mean?"

"Classes."

"We have two new one's, right?"

"Yeah."

"What about it?"

"I was just wondering if you knew."

"Yeah, I know."

"That's good."

Ruby mustered up her most condescending voice possible, dramatically asking "do YOU know the two new classes?"

He scoffed. 

The airship touched down in their usual place at the Beacon air docks, the multiple ramps lowering from the ship to let the herds of students off and onto school grounds. Cardin and Dove waved 'bye' off handedly as they went with the herd while Ruby opened up her suitcase. Ruby would be lying to say she was the same person as she was at the start of the last year, the person she was for most of her life. Having your eye gouged out, seeing people die, killing people, suffering extreme pain, competing for another's love, and so on had that effect, obviously. The girl known as Ruby had lost most of her naïveté and was no longer a sum of untainted purity. In better moods, she was still cheery and sweet, but when in a neutral zone of calm and normal, even tranquility, she took on a more deadpan snark or dark sense of humor, and when she was not happy, a deeply hidden bloodlust and anger started on a low boil, combat only fanning the flames till she only saw red.  
Thankfully she felt just fine at the moment. As such she thought it would be hilarious if she approached her friends in her gas mask and google get up, their shock and surprise being a delectable for her humor.  
She closed her briefcase and left the airship after everyone else, the ramps raising just behind her as the aircraft parted from the docs off to return home. She walked past the excited freshman who were too slow in her opinion, and soon spotted an assembly of familiar faces chatting up on and another.

Yang was the first to notice the easily recognizable crimson cloak that Ruby wore, and turned to wave 'hey!' to her sister but stopped in her tracks when she spotted her sibling's face. The brawler's recoil delighted Ruby. "Ruby?" Yang called out unsure of herself.

Collectively the rest of the gang too were taken aback, Weiss, Blake, Pyrrha, Ren, Sun, Neptune, Sage, and Scarlet all stared at Ruby's get up. Except Nora whom was impressed and whistled as such.

"Do we have to worry about getting gassed?" inquired Sun as he got over the initial strangeness of it. He rather liked it too.

Satisfied with her work, Ruby lifted the goggle and undid the mask on one side so that it dangled underneath her right ear. "Nah, just a precaution. So how are you all doing?" she asked pleasantly.

Ruby was met with a mixture of moans, shrugs, and cheerful gestures. It was Yang who answered "ready for action! I'm serious, I've gotten bored waiting for something to happen." Several people agreed.

Weiss corrected her negative answer to her partner, saying "well if you mean how summer went, it was terrible. If you mean right now, I too am glad to be here," her hand dancing to her words.

"I don't know," Sun remarked as he stared up and off into the distance, "the sleep was nice."

Everyone stopped and nodded in agreement, longingly saying goodbye to sleep under their breaths.

"There's no point in mourning over it," Blake stated, "we would have to get back to work eventually." Blake swung her jacket around and slipped her arms into it's sleeves, zipping up too to ward off the cool breeze that was coming in. Ruby didn't miss the circular patch of deformed skin Blake had on her left shoulder from last year, noting it's presence before Blake covered it up.

"Actually, speaking of getting back to work, where's Jaune?" Ruby asked.

Pyrrha flashed her scroll, answering "he said he'd meet us here soon."

"How soon is soon?" Weiss questioned.

Yang suggested "not soon enough?"

Ruby stroked her imaginary beard, "I guess if he takes too long, we'll just have to kill him."

Ren agreed, "seems fair."

"Well if we're playing that way, let me give him a warning." Pyrrha typed up a message to Jaune telling him to hurry up if he valued his life.

Yang threw out her hands to grab everyone's attention, looking side to side and posed the question theatrically "if we killed him, and ate him, hear me out, would we have 'Jaune-sh Kabobs'?" Blake moaned into her hand.

Ren shrugged, "seems a little extreme."

Weiss smiled, saying "I can hear Glynda now," and stood even more prim and proper than before, imitating their professor, "because of recent activities, it seems apparent that we need to have a written rule about not eating fellow students, because apparently some of you couldn't figure it out..."

Sun started "I wouldn't put it pass Ozpin to... never mind, he wouldn't do that," but he stopped himself.

"Do what?" Neptune asked.

"Naw, I got nothing, it was stupid."

"Pfft!" went Yang, "I wouldn't put anything pass Ozpin! Let's be honest, he's a bit of a dick..."

"I swear, if you all of a sudden get shot or some shit like that, we'll know why, you don't talk like that in public about people like him. In fact, I'm standing over here thank you" exclaimed Scarlet, taking a step back.

It was Weiss who stepped in, saying "I'm sorry, it's all butterflies and rainbows with him, and he would never do anything that wasn't totally fair and reasonable, cough team selection cough."

Ruby once again raised her brow, "after we're done with Jaune, looks like we have someone else to lynch too."

"No, I'm fine with the teams we got! Honest, but the method he used to choose teams could've really messed some people up bad, I mean, 'first person you make eye contact with', and oh! Lets not forget, let's send the kids flying into the forest, I mean, most of them will be fine, but the one's who didn't know to invest training into landing strategies-"

Yang cut in, "-Yeah, if anyone didn't know to learn landing strategies, they're fucked, but, ya know, fuck those guys!" she threw her arms up in her passion, continuing albeit more calmly, "also, on a serious note, if your blind like Fox, how do you make eye contact with someone else?"

"What's this about Ozpin being a monumental dick? Of which, I totally agree?" interjected Coco whom just walked in and included herself apart of the circle.

"I don't know, that's not totally fair to say-" Pyrrha tried to argue, Pyrrha being the one smart enough to exploit Ozpin's rule to pair herself up with Jaune.

Coco didn't let her finish though, "-No, it's true, Ozpin is wise, intelligent, a great leader, and a asshole. I would know. I love the guy." 

"Yeah?" the brawler shrugged.

"Basically, you wouldn't be wrong to say we really are just pawns on a chess board that he's playing with good intentions. Woe is us, but, whatever." Coco made a bubble with her pink gum and popped it, drawing it back into her mouth and continued her smacking sounds.

"Woe is us." Weiss sighed.

Ren was curious about Coco's status as a fourth year, her duties now substantially different from their own, and asked as such. "So when do you guys leave for the borders?"

"Our shift starts in three weeks. I'm not looking forward to it, the forecast says it's going to be rainy for a while soon after we drop off."

Nora hunched her back and spoke in the wheeziest voice she could, "Ya irresponsible youngster, don't understand the importance of ya job. Back in my day, ta big man might've given ya two sticks to rub together, an' we didn't complain! Dab-nabbit!"

"Preach it. Say, make sure you text me how well you do in your aura class."

"Aura class?" Yang was embarrassed when she reached the conclusion that she was the only not in the know when everyone else already seemed to know the answer. 

"Didn't know? Yeah, aura class starts for second years, and one of the first things they do is test your aura specs. I'm curious, so tell me about it when you guys go through it."

"Okay, will do" Ruby said, nodding.

In that moment, Blake's face scrunched up before she plugged her nose, asking in irritation "what's that smell?"

Jaune stepped into sight, calling out "Hey-o!" as he re-slung his duffle bag over his shoulder. All the guys and Ruby greeted him back, but Weiss was the first to ask why he smelled.

"When was the last time you showered?" Blake asked.

Jaune itched his chin in deep thought, struck a pose with his hand on his hip, and finally answered, "well it rained last week..."

The reactions were mixed, with his team, Sun, and Ruby finding it actually kinda funny while the others ranged from disgusted to confused. Weiss posed the obvious question, albeit worded to her taste of course, "are you an imbecile? What's wrong with you?"

He laughed. "I'd say I've done pretty well for someone who lived under a bridge for two months."

Weiss was speechless. She waved her arms and mouthed without sound, as she couldn't understand why he would do such a thing. 

"Dude, you have a home, right? Cause if you don't-" Neptune was saying before Jaune explained.

"I needed my own money to pay for Beacon, so I found it was cheaper to work all summer and pay for basically only food, and it doubled as training... in a sense. My family doesn't live directly in Vale, and I found more opportunities here, so... I stayed here." It was mostly the truth, though he left out many details he didn't feel like divulging them in, and especially didn't want any pity. He didn't want to admit that he was afraid of confronting his father whom he ran away from even if his father was pleased that he was doing well. 

The party chatted some more as they made their way to their dorms, quickly taking a peak at the freshman whom gathered in the meeting hall for Ozpin's speech of which they didn't stay to listen to. Opening up the familiar doors into their four person homes, the dorms were as they were left at the end of last year, except the beds were a bit stiff from the lack of usage and a very thin film of dust could be found on whatever was within the corners of the rooms.  
In no time at all, they found themselves unpacked and relaxing, the rest of the day left up to them to wait while the freshman get put through the entrance test and put into teams by night. Ruby hung her facial accessories up on her bedpost save for the one head wrap she kept on, Weiss applied makeup in the bathroom to cover her scars, Blake applied oil to her Gambol Shroud and wiped it down, Yang brushed her hair, Jaune took a shower, Nora snoozed away, Pyrrha studied, and Ren started on drawing up new schematics for his Storm Flowers.  
By nightfall, the freshman teams had been chosen and announced, and on their way back to the dorms, a scared looking girl reminiscent of Ruby except blue and white instead of red and black approached her peer and asked for advice.

Ruby looked to the excited and terrified girl and answered seriously, "make sure you're the first one to the cafeteria, because they only make thirty of any dessert. If you're not first, no dessert."

Yang nodded in agreement and patted the freshman on the head before the pack continued on.

-End Chapter 2-


	3. Zero Period

The beach was warm, the fiery golden sun and clear blue waves beautiful, and the scantily clad women were a'plenty. Jaune felt right at home in his lawn chair with his succulent coconut and vodka smoothie, petting his sleepy crocodile. A white horse in gleaming silver armor waited like cold stone in the distance behind Jaune, dark storm clouds looming just behind it. Jaune made a special effort to ignore the horse, not that it was that hard, seeing as how a supermodel was approaching him with an eye catching sway to her hips.

"Jaune" she whispered as she put a finger to his lips. It felt real. The authenticity of the feeling however brought senses to Jaune, much to his chagrin, and he quickly realized that everything else was just a dream.

His eyes opened, not that any of the patterns of light that struck them made any sense in the first couple of moments. Jaune thought hard to respond to the woman saying his name, barely managing to let out enough air to mutter "did we... did we remember to feed the snakes?"

"Jaune," she whispered again softly, this time cupping her hand around his cheek and tilting his head towards her.

"Oh," he whispered. Jaune made sense of what he was looking at, or rather whom. Pyrrha was waking him up dressed in her gray night robe, the room was lit sufficiently with morning sunlight, and Jaune wasn't on a beach; he was in his dorm bed.

She put her other finger to her own lips, gesturing him to remain silent, and nodded her head to somewhere out of his view. He rolled the long way around under his sheets to see what she was referring to, and stared for several seconds to figure out what he was looking at. He knew he was looking at people, then he realized he knew them, from somewhere, then his full conscience came to bring clarity to all. What he was looking at was Ren and Nora sleeping at and on the room's main desk. Nora was on the desk and leaning against the wall, her head tilted so that her chin was tucked into her shoulder, and her legs were propped against the burrow lined against the perpendicular wall. Ren was hunched over in his seat just beside her, his head in his arms over his new Storm Flower blue-prints.  
Jaune looked to Pyrrha, she being the one who wanted him to see this scene. He met her eyes and she gave him what he thought was the most endearing smile before silently mouthing 'awww'. He smiled back in agreement.  
Having changed into his school uniform, a similarly dressed Pyrrha handed Jaune the guitar she got him the year previous, of which he struck a pose with on the closest bed to the desk, Ren's, and waited for his partner in crime to finish capturing the moment with a picture. He didn't see what the picture turned out like, but she indicated for him to go ahead, and so he did.  
His calloused finger tips tickled the metal chords, and from the hallowed wood emanated an acoustic euphony, the classic Morning Song that many a culture had taken to associating with the rising sun and peace with the world. Nora was the first to react.  
She blinked repeatedly before standing up and yawning, taking a minute to act like a regular person fresh from waking up before going to her base state of hyper activeness, Ren soon following.

Once everyone was fully dressed and ready, they sat on their beds to listen to Jaune's first speech of the year, something they decided was going to be a thing since yesterday. He stood by the door and rubbed his brow in slight lethargy, this being one of the few times he wasn't the first awake with plenty of time to adjust, and spoke plainly. "So, as second years, we all start a new zero-period class devoted to aura studies, and it is the only class we'll share with our entire grade this year. That's alot now that I think about it. And uh... oh yeah, Glynda teaches it." They clapped half sincerely and half teasingly.

"A marvelous speech from our fearless leader" joked Pyrrha. Jaune did a bow with a royal and thespian arm wave. 

"Ready to go?" Jaune asked as he rose.

Ren checked his scroll for the time. "Couldn't hurt to leave now."

Outside their dorm they could hear their neighbor's leaving, prompting Jaune to open the door and lead his team out to meet a cheery team RWBY. To their mild surprise, Yang was at the back of the party with a blindfold and earmuffs, something they felt compelled to ask about.

"What's she trying to do? Transcend senses?" Jaune quipped.

Weiss answered "No, she's trying to-" interrupting herself to tell Jaune "shut up" continuing, "-she heard that there's this thing where you can use a seventh sense using aura. At least, that's what Coco said, and me and Blake are betting 20 lien that she's screwing with us. Coco told Yang that if you train without sight or hearing that you could invoke it."

Pyrrha looked to the side confused for a moment. "But we already use aura as a sense..."

Weiss defended herself saying "well yeah, kinda! To a degree, sensing danger and whatnot, sure, but she meant sensing like, specific attacks and stuff, like Fox." Her arms were folded of course by the time she finished.

"I thought that was his semblance," Ren said, "not a acquired skill."

"She said for Fox it was both, I don't know..." Blake chimed.

They laughed as Yang walked clumsily into a doorframe. They also laughed when she slipped on the wet marble floors of the hallways closer to the meeting hall, or rather the arena they were heading for. Not being able to hear or see had the predictable effect on Yang where she didn't make any sound herself or talk, so her reactions weren't as great as they maybe had hoped, but the scared face she made when she found herself parallel to the ground and in the air was good enough.

"You all know me, so I don't see a reason for an introduction." Glynda tapped her scroll rapidly, inputting the attendance for the entire second year class as she looked around the filled seats of the bleachers from her center stage position in the exact middle of the room. Yawns plagued the air, eye rubs too, but no chatter. The huntsmen and huntresses in training were curious to what Glynda would start them off with their first class in learning more about the elusive aura they used everyday to fight for their lives. They figured it had something to do with the aged equipment set around the arena floor, metal contraptions with seats and what looked like a clamp to put one's arm through, but few recognized what the sets were exactly.

"Bets are that today they kill off the weaker ones!" Nora excitedly suggested, rubbing her hands together like some sort of evil villain. Her friends disregarded her comment, but not far behind her a group of students with little confidence started to sweat in fear.

Their professor finished her busy work finally and lowered her scroll in her usual way, signifying she was about to talk. They sat in apt attention. "As you are all aware, this is Aura Class. In this class, we, and by we I mean you, will explore and comprehend the individual limits, capabilities, and known mechanics of your auras. We will-" she sighed, "yes, Ruby?"

Having raised her hand, Ruby didn't waste time to ask "why didn't we do this class first year?"

Glynda gave a small shrug as if to approve of the question as passable, answering confidently, "in your first year, we make sure you're able to perform with the skills you brought with you, and push you to improve upon the most obvious flaws you may have, and to make sure you really are ready for more rigorous training. In your second year, we figure you're ready to commit, so we start working on finer subjects, such as pushing the limits on your aura and semblance. Third year gets even harder and more esoteric." The students murmured among each other satisfied with their given answer, and decided unanimously to let her continue.  
Goodwitch smiled. "First lesson and important detail before we start with our task for the rest of the week, and something probably few of you know..." Yang chuckled lightly, surprised to find Glynda was one to enjoy blowing people's minds from what she could read on her face and from her tone. "Also as a warning, you will be hearing the word 'aura' frequently in this class often, so I don't want to hear any complaining. First lesson; the body is like a battery, but the capacity of each individual regarding their own aura is determined by a myriad of factors. Size, will power, physical energy and hunger, common mental state, and so on. Aura levels are indirectly tied to physical energy, so starving oneself will lower it, along with fatigue and exhaustion, but the relationship doesn't work quite the same backwards. Between physical energy and aura, if your physical energy drops, aura drops, especially if you let your moral and mental state drop, as those let slip more physical stamina and strength too, but if you get hit and your aura drops, you still keep your physical stamina. Basically, you will always have proportionally less aura than stamina. This explains why more skilled and confident fighters can take more abuse is because they have more aura because their bodies give a larger lease on storing the life-force we call aura. In short, your body will jack up the amount of aura storage it has the more you forget your own mortality and the physical ability to contain it. Veterans whom have never lost a fight are nearly indestructible in this manner as they no longer believe they can lose or die and have learned how to minimize wasted energy, and a veteran who has a reason to fight will only get more adrenaline pumping and more stamina or a second wind."

"Wow. That explains-" someone started before Glynda continued.

"Thats the stored part of aura in relation to the body. That's what you use to absorb direct hits. By the way, the amount of aura lost when defending against attacks to the body lessens when the part hit is protected, even if aura is spent strengthening everything wielded by the owner. Otherwise using melee weapons and shields would be ridiculous, and case in point, our very own Jaune Arc here I have seen personally take a much heavier beating thanks to his armor. Aura will protect you, but armor protects your aura, remember that." Jaune avoided making eye contact with the multitude of looks his way. "The other aspect of aura is constant regenerating aura, the aura you use to perform actions with semblances, jump higher, run faster, hit harder, strengthen your equipment, and so on." Anyone who wasn't listening before was now, as the paradox they all had wondered about up till now seemed to have an answer to it. Everyone had always wondered why they or where they got this aura that was spent on aggressive actions that didn't detract from their aura pools, and Glynda had always known apparently.  
"For variables again, myriad, different people produce passively different amounts of aura to spend at any given moment on direct action, but only passively produce if they are aware they are going to be needing it. Some of this generated aura can be used to defend, such as when a stiff arm blocks a heavy kick or something similar. If some stored aura is lost, once out of combat and relaxed, the regenerating aura will be used to replenish it." At first Yang thought Glynda turned to look at her when quickly she realized that she was looking at her and Ruby. "Some people also however can either have little control over their aura and it leaks out, or produce so much that it manifests as something relating to the semblance of the owner, case in point, Ms. Rose and Ms. Long, whom exude either fire or rose pedals even if they are performing exhausting maneuvers. I suspect you two inherited it from your father." The two of them blushed as they too like Jaune made themselves smaller in their seats to hide from the jealous looks of their classmates.  
"So today and every day till Friday will be spent figuring out your specs, how much aura you hold, how much you produce, and your recovery time. We will do this with the machines you see up here. I need a volunteer."

The room went still. Except Jaune and Nora. Nora was rocking back and forth in pleasant contentedness. Jaune was shimmying down into his seat, hiding from Glynda's gaze. She was feeling a mean streak about herself and decided to choose him. "Jaune Arc, would you care to grace our presence with your volunteered help?" she said, sarcastically.

He gave a sigh.

Down in the arena, Jaune sat in the old seat and pulled up his sleeve and armor, putting his right arm into the iron socket of the wicked looking contraption. Glynda typed into the computer that was built into the configuration, explaining the concept of the machine. "This chair will keep track of your aura levels and record according to the name you put into the database, along with date, time, and speed. This arm contraption will drive a piston repeatedly into the bottom side of your arm and spend your aura until the exact point where it no longer is capable of preventing any physical damage, rendering you totally mortal and normal. We will test each person at least once on each speed setting to get a spread sheet of your limits and the database will produce a number regarding your capacity."

"Why the bottom side of the arm?" Cardin asked out loud, some people agreeing in their curiosity.

"Because if you relax, it is the best spot to test soft skin and your aura's ability to defend it. Flexed muscles, bone, armor, all of it lends it's self to less or inconsistent aura usage, so a constant variable such as soft skin is needed for accurate measurements. After you test yourself in the chair, grab a paper slip and stick it into the automatic hole punch, and the computer will record how many lbs. of force it takes to pierce the aura enhanced paper slip you're holding. Then after at least ten minutes, test yourself again in the machine, and a measurement on your recovery will be recorded too. Final results will be announced Friday." She turned to Jaune and held a finger over a green button in front of the computer. "Since we had to spend time lecturing today, we will all use the fastest setting for draining aura. Expect a pinch. Ready Jaune?"

He looked at the conglomerate of shadowed classmates looking down at him curious to the degree of pain this retro apparatus would inflict for the next four days. "Yeah, I'm ready" he somewhat lied.

"Alright, make sure you relax your arm as much as possible. Here we go." 

Jaune thought to himself how much it would hurt, the likely hood of it being excruciating, how he didn't want to be hurt honestly, and was as shocked as everyone else along with Glynda when the small punch made it's first impact on his skin and shattered with a flash of bright light, presumably sparks, and metal chunks of iron clattered on the floor at his feet. The unburdened piston drive ran gleefully as Goodwitch stared at Jaune half mad and half freaked out, confused as to whether she should berate him for breaking the punch or be impressed with... whatever it was that he did.

"None of these have broken for twenty years" Glynda said in disbelief.

Jaune sighed. "...shit." 

-End Chapter 3-


	4. Improvements

Three weeks in and the difference in expectations had become well understood. Glynda's sparring class where normally her students would practice against each other in simple combat had taken a spike in difficulty they never were never warned about by from their upperclassmen, probably because their peers didn't think anything of it after while, similar to how the current fresh second years quickly adapted to the changes and murmured 'how typical' to each other every time Glynda turned her back.  
For today's matches, the marbled arena floor grid pattern, which they had discovered were actually segmented and could rise from the ground by the power of large hydraulic pistons, randomly raised and lowered with a range of about ten feet. The rules Glynda set were that both fighters had to remain above ground level, otherwise the combatant that touched ground would lose five percent of their grade and it would transfer to their opponents grade. Catch was of course, the arena itself only had ten of the small square platforms in their arbitrary movements to keep the fighters airborne raised and active for use, and people who weren't careful could easily destroy them. 

In their professor's words, she stated "It's time we work on improving both damage control and your ability to fight in the air and on poor footing." Then she told them about the ridiculous cost of replacing marble floor tiles every time someone wanted to make a point, and established the rules about never touching the ground. Many students groaned irately.

The current two duelist were Blake and Ren, both whom boasted some of the better arial games of the second years, bested only sometimes by Weiss, Ruby, and by members of team BNSH. In comparison, Jaune was easily the worst. Ren and Blake expertly leapt from each small square to another, clashing for a moment in mid air, then touching down for only a split second before immediately taking off again to attack the other. Ren had quickly adapted to his new style since redesigning his storm flowers, making so that they had a third transforming state where they acted as a cross between large daggers and lighter short swords, allowing him to better combat humanoid opponents. Admittedly, he did have to learn standard swordplay overnight from Pyrrha, but he took to it well. As impressive as the display of acrobatics were however, few were watching too closely as the teams were in the middle of choosing their first missions of the year.

"Yes! Alright!" Yang cheered, throwing a victorious fist into the air. "Junior detectives all the way!" Ruby gave her a high five in equal glee, putting her scroll away. Yang pulled down her blind fold and leaned back to nap again.

"No, are you serious?" Jaune gaped in upset disbelief. He scrolled through the mission options until he saw the Junior Detective mission turn from 'open' to 'Team RWBY', prompting Jaune and Nora to both pout briefly.

Off somewhere in the dark of the bleachers, Ben, a fellow student, called out to them. He said, "Hey! Ruby! I'll trade with ya!"

"What're you offering?!" Ruby called back, not actually planning on trading missions with anyone; junior detective was the coolest thing they could think to do.

"Body guard duty" Ben called back with less enthusiasm. 

"No deal!"

"Fine! Be that way."

Ruby gave a small giggle, pleased with herself. Weiss rolled her eyes.

"What if we did rock paper scissors for it?" Jaune offered.

"Pfft. Nope."

"What if we fought for it?" Pyrrha asked absentmindedly.

The girl in red pondered her options for a moment, then thought up a shameless ultimatum for her allies. "If Jaune takes me to diner tonight, I'll trade..." she gave a mischievous smile. Pyrrha slowly reached for her sword on instinct, but Jaune defused the instantaneous tension.

"Sorry, I already have plans actually." They all sat in silence while Nora hummed to herself.

Ren was nearing the end of his rope, Blake constantly pushing him back and off of any footing he got, always forcing him to rush for another safe spot again and again. Deciding on a new tactic, Ren planted himself onto the centermost raised tile and waited for just a moment. Blake came flying down at him predictably with her sheathe bearing down like a hammer, so he blocked with his Storm Flowers crossed and shoved a still airborne Blake down towards the ground. Quickly reacting, she kicked off of the square plastic sleeve underneath the marble that protected the piston, launching herself back up and slightly away from her target. The tile Ren stood on dropped down about ten feet, stopping abruptly five feet from ground level and giving the black clad aggressor the advantage. She whipped her Gambol Shroud around and at Ren, firing right before it made contact, but he wrapped his left hand blade around the ribbon and yanked towards him, emptying his clip on Blake. Falling into the blue bullets, she used her wide sheathe to great effect as a shield, a steady 'pinging' sound ringing through the dark metal. Before slamming into the boy in green, she used a shadow clone to fake him out and appeared directly above him, whipping around and launching her prey with the backside of her sheathe. Ren barely managed to grab onto another tile to avoid touching ground, and just in time too, as the lights came on as the match was declared as Blake's victory with Ren's aura in the red.

"That was an impressive recovery there at the end Miss Belladonna, I believe we're already seeing improvement," Glynda said with an unusually pleased tone. "Next, we have Mr. Thrush versus Miss Gran, will you please come down..."

Finding their places amongst their friends, Ren and Blake asked for detail on their missions, curious to the moods that their leaders were in. Ruby explained that there was a recent murder that involved a Huntsmen, and that the team in charge of the investigation were requesting assistance in worries of a worst case scenario. Jaune asked what the worst case scenario was and Ruby answered with a hint of worry in her voice that worst case scenario, team RWBY would have to fight a criminal who managed to kill a full fledged Huntsmen. She made a point that she didn't have the full details with the quick description that came with the mission, and that there was a distinct possibility that there was more to that would increase their chances, but at the same time, there might not be.  
Jaune ended up choosing a simple Grimm extermination mission, explaining that everyone felt out of practice and Ren wanted more practice with his new weapons. 

"And tomorrow we start..." Weiss said over the filing of her nails. 

The eight of them sat and stared at the fight in front of them with semi interest in silence once again, leaving themselves to wait until the clock said they could leave class. However, they all erupted into cheering and excited roars when the Pickaxe-chain-shotgun user Nola Gran caught Russel in her chain and spun him around the arena and above her head seven times before slamming him hard into the ground floor head first, instantly bringing his aura banner from topped off down to red, winning in one attack. Many hours later and within the city of Vale, Jaune and Pyrrha found themselves still talking about the fight.

"You know, it's incredible, her team last year kept under the radar so well that no one really knew much about them, but now their competing with us and team RWBY" went on Jaune, scraping the last bits of noodles together with his fork before taking it to his mouth.

Pyrrha was enjoying herself, the sun casting it's last rays of light as it set behind the silhouetted buildings into the little noodle shack. A Simple Wok it was called, not that she got the reference, but it was quaint enough. "I heard that they had a summer mission in Vacuo."

"Pfft, they better have gotten extra credit then in that case. Do you know what they were doing?" He eyed his soda cup, but it was empty, so he pulled close the little wooden bowl filled with green paste still hungry.

She let out a long content sigh. "Exchange program, Ozpin made a deal with their headmaster to give them specific training, or so it goes..." leaning forward and examining the ornate plates lining the shelves, Pyrrha waited for a retort, but got none. Looking over her shoulder, she saw Jaune red faced and frozen still. "Jaune?"

"Give me a minute" he wheezed.

She laughed as she figured he just ate too fast, unaware that Jaune had just discovered wasabi. An idea struck him that put a wide smile on his mug, that is after he finished burning inside.

"Hey Pyrrha, close your eyes." 

At first she was suspicious, but once she complied, he turned in his seat and faced her, pulling her chin towards him and in the process emptied all the thoughts from her mind. With slight guilt, he put a dab of the green paste onto his lips and kissed Pyrrha, pulling away right after. Without thinking, the redhead licked her lips and found the surprise he left there for her.

"Wha-" was all she managed to say before jumping up and panting violently, Jaune laughing mildly in the background. She asked the old man running the shack for water, of which he quickly provided. The burn didn't go away, but at least it wasn't intolerable as it was when she first tasted it.

"Alright, so I propose a challenge," the blond boy grinned, taking a long swig of water.

Finally sitting down again, confused whether she should feel angry or find it hilarious, she humored him in his proposal. "Oh? And what would that be?"

"Well," he scooted the wooden bowl in between them, then took another sip of water and held the cup near his face, "as Huntsmen and Huntresses, we may never know when we will find ourselves stuck in the middle of nowhere with no food or water, or maybe no regular food or water, and will have to eat whatever we find..."

She laughed. "I know where you're going with this." Another sip.

"So, as a training exercise, and as a way to make memories before we go out and kill hordes, and I mean hordes of Grimm," he said waving his arm for silly emphasis, "I say that every time a red car passes along on that highway there, I'll take a dab and eat it, and every time a gray car goes along you take a dab..."

She turned around to take stock of the cars passing the highway behind them, counting twenty gray or silver cars to every red car passing, and gave Jaune a deadpan look. "Yeah no. Instead of gray, how about blue?"

He clicked his tongue. "I guess that'll work. Ready?"

With a smile she popped her knuckles. "Ready when you are."

They positioned themselves to face the Highway, ready for all the colored cars that could ever pass, and in unison shouted 'go!'

Within ten seconds they both had taken their first round of wasabi, and while not nearly as bad as the first go, it was still one of the hottest spices they had eaten. Tears ran down their red faces, and once they had hit their fourth helping, they were laughing uncontrollably as they slapped their knees and held their sides gasping for air. Pyrrha was rolling on the ground when a pack of four or so red cars raced down the highway, and a bubbly Jaune dipped all his fingers in the spice and stuck his hand into his mouth, keeling over onto the countertop and digging his nails into the wood. 

Crying through her burning giggles, Pyrrha pointed to the highway, "ha, theres, ha ha, more-" but couldn't finish and had to hold onto the chair for support.

Jaune shoveled the wasabi into his mouth, not another blue car showing up until he had finished the whole bowl. He stared at the shop owner with wet eyes and slow breathing, the occasional snicker making it's way past the burn.

"It's okay Jaune," she patted his cheeks, drying the tears with her gloved hand, "even a grown man may cry."

Jaune turned ever so slowly, staring at her for several seconds before gathering the last bits of the wasabi on his dominant finger. She nodded her head sideways, her smug face at maximum smugness, then caught on and let out a small shriek as she wrestled with him. He laughed out "it's only fair" as he tried getting the last bit of green paste into her mouth, tickling Pyrrha to get her to drop her guard and get past her waving and rebellious arms. The struggle devolved into a wrestling match crossed with tickling on the ground, the wasabi smeared on Pyrrha's nose and no real objective.  
The old shopkeep reminisced his younger days as he watched the two colorful teenagers goof around on the cement floor with all their laughing and giggles, and in a stroke of good will, he grabbed their ticket. The items as listed were noodles, drinks, sauces and spices, and extra meat, and feeling generous, he crossed off everything except the noodles.

-Elsewhere-

"Roman, get off your ass, nows no time to pout" Cinder commanded, arms folded.

He stood up begrudgingly, raising his cane up in a defensive manner once again. He mumbled to himself under his breath, "I still don't get why I'm 'being trained,' get recruited for my thieving and management skills, and here I am, getting beaten day in and day out, 'oh lets improve on your skills' they said, 'oh it'll be fun' they said-"

"I don't see why you're complaining... wouldn't you like not to be beaten down by a little girl again? I imagine your masculinity would suffer if another incident like that happened." She lobbed a blue fire ball at him.

Roman stabbed right through the ball and dispersed the flames, ash covering every inch of his cane. "Alright, I know why I'm being trained, but honestly, this is getting excessive!" 

Cinder lowered her flaming palm with a sassy 'hmm'. "Well, if you think you're sufficiently skilled, see if you can beat her. If you can, I'll leave you alone." She stepped to the wall next to Mercury and gestured to the woman sitting on the opposite side on the crate. "Time to earn your pay ma'm."

The woman, dressed in tall black combat boots with matching black cargo pants and a white sleeveless shirt, flicked away her cigarette and put her long scarlet hair into a bun. Without wasting time, she stepped into the middle of the circle and took up a hungry looking stance with her knife in a reverse grip and low body. The tattoos wrapping around her arms started to glow an assortment of colors, changing from their dull natural hues on her skin to luminescent designs of fire, ice, lighting, winds, and earth. With a crack sounding off similar to thunder accompanied by a white flash on her body, the woman flashed to in front of Roman, knife inches from his face. He ducked but lost his balance, only barely managing to defend against a slew of flashing metal.

"Any word from our mole?" Cinder asked Mercury.

"He's taken out three of his targets, and authorities are so far only alert to one. Say, are you sure about the mercenaries?"

"It wasn't my decision, I just picked them. If you want to know, Adam was the one who made the call."

"Why, it's not like he doesn't have a small army of faunus backing him up already or anything like that."

"Largely incompetent faunus..." she gave him a disapproving look, "you should know better. Their just a means to a end, a front. There's also been recent... grievances. There are factions within the White Fang that are saying they're being used and that the White Fang is getting too extreme and militaristic, and leaders are appearing among them rallying to branch off to protest against both the White Fang and the humans. Some are catching on that quite a few of their operations seem irrelevant to faunus rights and the such, so Adam and few others have decided to start utilizing our funds to use mercenaries for the more obscure and subtle jobs. Keep the faunus in the dark."

"Seems smart."

Roman shouted out as a flaming fist grabbed him by the throat and threw him down. Cinder sighed.

"It's all a means to an end."

-End Chapter 4-


	5. Trading Kind Words

"You want to take a left up here," advised Sage. He compared the area with the compass and map in his lap, and felt he had a pretty good idea of where they were.

Sun complied, and cut through the bushes lining the dirt road and started weaving between the dark trees that made up the Forest of Forever Fall. Sitting in the cargo bed of the black jeep and facing Scarlet, Neptune pulled out from his pocket a folded slip of paper. Keeping his right hand clenched tight onto the jeep's roll cage to keep himself from getting bucked out of the back, he unfolded the paper clumsily with his left, eventually handing the sketch to his white and red themed teammate.

"I was thinking of making it for Weiss, what do ya think?" Neptune shouted over the loud rumpus of Sun's driving.

Scarlet managed to hold steady long enough to see that Neptune had drawn up a blue print for a delicate looking watch, and found himself rather touched by the sentiment. "What color are you thinking of-" Sun ran over the edge of a small hill, launching Scarlet head first into a bar of the roll cage. He tucked his head in tight and grabbed ahold of the bench, giving out a long drawn out breathe to deal with the pain.

"I was thinking silver of course! Black as the only other possible alternative, but nothing else. Come on man, I asked you because I trusted you had some concept of color coordination!" Neptune snatched the paper out of Scarlet's hand, attracting Sage's and Sun's attention.

Scarlet rubbed his head. "Of course silver is the only way to go! I was just making sure you knew, I wouldn't want you to guff this up now, would I?"

Sun turned around for the briefest of moments and swiped the paper out of Neptune's loose grip, giving it to Sage for him to show to him. Sage gave a whistle while Sun looked back and forth between the paper and the trees, finally calling behind him "You should make it gold!"

"Are you deranged?" their red team member off handedly commented while Neptune shouted 'Fuck you' back at his team leader.

Sun whipped the jeep around a rather large black tree before launching off another hill and found another bumpy dirt path of which they tumbled along for about a minute. "Yeah, fuck me right? I'm sorry I had the common sense to think gold to match HER FUCKING GOLD HAIR!" Sage pointed left again and Sun yanked the steering wheel left, drifting for just a moment before the jeep hit a lump in the road and gained air time, careening moments later downhill through more clusters of trees.

Scarlet and Sage laughed into their laps, keeling over, leaving Neptune to correct his best friend through his own laughs. "Weiss dumbass, Weiss!"

"What!? I thought you and Yang were a thing!"

"Naw, she's too much of a bro. There's something about Weiss though, I can't tell what it is, but, ah man, I can't stop thinking about her..." Neptune trailed off, smiling like a fool as he admired the exotic red glow of the forest.

Sun failed to hide his smug face, "Can't stop thinking about how much of a bitch she can be sometimes? You know, just a little?"

"Oh shit" Sage whispered, throwing a daring look to Scarlet. They knew what was about to go down.

"Oh? OH!? Okay, yeah, hey, I'm Blake," Neptune started, "I either give you mean glares or I stare off into space because I'm too good to grace the planet with my presence!"

Sun stayed silent for a long moment, finally admitting "okay, you're not wrong about the glares, but, it doesn't change the fact that 'hey! I'm Weiss, I either demand that you serve your... services on a gold platter- Oh! I'm sorry, a SILVER PLATTER! Or rather, I complain about the fucking plebeians I have to deal with day in and day out, peasants like that one fucker, what was his name? Oh yeah, Neptune, that nerd! I'm pretty sure that loser's adopted by the way because NO ONE LOVES HIM!" The jeep slammed into level ground right next to the parallel train tracks, the target train visible way off in the distance. Sun shifted to first and followed next to the track on the still bumpy bank, quickly working his way up to fifth, the wind rushing past them at eighty miles per hour with air time every few seconds. Sage and Scarlet gave out hollers of excitement, both enjoying the shout fest between their teammates. If both of them weren't chasing girls, Sage and Scarlet could swear that Sun and Neptune were actually in love with each other and didn't know how to express it.

"Says the RACIST, 'HEY! I'M SUN! I'm so singled minded THAT THE FIRST FAUNUS GIRL I SEE," Neptune took a breath, "I'M GOING TO CHASE CAUSE I'M A FUCKING RACIST! Real creative Sun, I bet her being a cat faunus has nothing to do with your freaky fetish for that stupid cartoon cat you watched as a kid!" He turned his head to Sage who was watching him at this point and continued the grilling, "Yeah, I think Eliza the Cat was it's name, man you missed the night Sun got drunk and talked for HOURS about his obsession with her..."

Sun spotted a nevermore in his rearview mirror approaching fast, but shouted back "IT WAS A GOOD SHOW! I'm not the one who instead watched FUCKING HOUSEWIVES OF ATLAS, 'Oh simply marvelous darling" Sun imitated in a deep snobby voice, "I must absolutely have that recipe, it's to DIE FOR,'" and then in a obnoxiously high and girly voice he continued "'Oh, it's like, totally nothing, I mean like, he was such a hunk!' Ya fairy fuck!" 

The nevermore shot down a line of giant feathers, piercing the spot of ground just between Neptune and Scarlet's feet on the last feather, putting a large hole in the gas tank. Scarlet kicked the white hollow bone of the feather and snapped it just above where it pieced the metal cargo bed all the while Neptune got his weapon ready. "I'm not the one who READ THE MISSION TIME WRONG, AND MADE US LATE IN THE FIRST PLACE! YOU UNCULTURED SWINE!" Neptune gave his electrified trident a vector just in front of the nevermore's head and held tight to his pole as he went flying up and sticking into the beast's neck.

Ignoring the fact that Neptune was no longer in earshot, Sun still felt compelled to defend his dignity by shouting back "AND WHOSE FAULT WAS IT THAT I WAS DISTRACTED WHEN READING THE DESCRIPTION!? WHO WAS IT THAT WAS ASKING INCESSANTLY WHAT ACCESSORIES A GIRL MIGHT LIKE YOU SON OF A BITCH!"

Scarlet stood up and tilted his head to the side, popping it. "It's been fun and all, but, somebody better tell our contact that we're actually here, and that they shouldn't freak out about the nevermore chasing us." The red team member climbed around the bars of the jeep and hanged off the side while Sun got the jeep closer to the tracks. Once within jumping distance, Scarlet leaped from the left side of the jeep and landed firmly onto the tracks, a pale red glyph already prepared. Using the speed he had when he left the jeep, he focused on producing a glyph just in front of him one at a time and surfed along the smooth steel and quickly caught up with the train.

"Ugh, just looking at him makes my feet burn!" Sage said to Sun, whom was too busy ranting to notice.

"And it's not like she's always bitchy or bossy, it's just that sometimes she isn't in the best of moods..." Neptune also said to himself, distracted more by thoughts of Weiss than his current task of climbing the nevermore's neck and mounting himself just behind it's skull. "...she's just misunderstood, and lonely, and I want to be there for her..." He stabbed repeatedly into the bird's head, killing it after few additional point blank plasma shots. "You know, you're right Berdo, red would go well with the silver; blue would just blend to much... " And down the nevermore went, sailing just over and off to the side of the train, giving Neptune the opportunity to jump down right next to Scarlet who finished explaining to the conductor the reason why they didn't meet up with them at the train station. Sage jumped up and onto the empty flat cart with Sun following soon after, their jeep ditched and exploding in the background.

Sun wiped his nose. "Feel better?" asked Sage, referring to both Sun and Neptune. 

They both nodded calmly.

"I still think it should be gold" smirked Sun.

Neptune rolled his eyes and laughed.

-End Chapter 5-


	6. Tips, Tricks, and Cheats

Yang flipped through another page of her Hunter's Weekly magazine. "I'd give it another five minutes." 

"What do you think?" Blake showed her sketch book to her partner, displaying with pride a stencil of Yang's bike.

"Nice. Hey, check it, Northern Rend bought out Ember's Rise."

Blake pondered it for a moment. "Wait, doesn't that mean that Ruby won't be able to get her ammo anymore?"

Yang scoffed. "No, Ruby buys from Excalibur if she doesn't reload the shells herself. I bought from Ember's Rise, but I should be able to still get my stock because I imagine Northern Rend will carry over the popular items from ER. But I guess someone who make all of their own bullets wouldn't know about munitions competition."

Blake gave Yang a glare. "The way you say that makes it seem like I'm ignorant or something..."

"That's not important, the point is, look at this," Yang pointed to the segmented katana in the magazine along with it's accompanying pictures show casing it's transformation into a bladed whip, "because of their take over, they have the room to start a new line of weaponry, and this is their debut. Ain't she sexy?"

Blake couldn't lie, the smooth polished steel with it's machine cut grooves flowing ergonomically into the spine of the blade which worked elegantly into a handle and trigger with it's elongated hexagonal hand guard screaming high class and sultry, too much actually as it had the consequence of making her weapon feel inadequate. What made it worse was that her sheathe was responsible for the permanent callous on her left hand, and something designed better for human, or in her case faunus hands wouldn't have had the same effect. "It's pretty" she said.

"Oh boy..."

"Wha- oh..." Ruby and Weiss turned the corner, both panting and sweating as if they had traversed the entirety of Vacuo's deserts, limply dragging everything about them.

Once close enough, Ruby barely managed to hold an accusatory finger at Yang while speaking through haggard breaths. "You... cheated... you... ugh... you... ah... oh my... you... cheated.... don't use... your bike... tired..." Weiss nodded in agreement.

"You think you're tired!?" Yang exclaimed, "ya know, once I got here, I tried to get my bike to stand, but it couldn't, ya know why? Because IT'S two tired!" She had been waiting years to say that, and the delivery of it couldn't have pleased her more. Weiss slapped her. "Totally worth it" Yang grinned, as did Blake.

"You cheated... you... person that cheats..." Ruby spat out before collapsing onto the bench next to Blake.

Yang shrugged, "now you know that next time you set up a race to Vale from Beacon, you need to set up some rules first before you get a head start. You never said me and Blake could ride..." Blake nodded in agreement.

Weiss sided with Ruby for obvious reasons. "It's implied," a deep breath, "that when you use a racing opportunity," a deep breath, "and she starts by stating it's 'for training purposes'," a deep breath and a gulp, "then the implication is that it's meant to work," a long sigh, "it's meant to work on your stamina, not on your ability to lazily pass us while Grimm tail us."

"What's the point of racing if I know I'm going to place last though, huh?"

Ruby rolled her eye, "at least you Blake could've put some work in, you probably would've beaten us actually."

"Well, think of it like this; instead of training our legs, we trained our minds..." Blake raised a brow in her proposition. She really didn't want to ruin the peace she had built this morning with the issues in Ruby's semantics, so she tried humoring them.

Ruby looked blankly at the Police Station behind where they were sitting, their destination, and dully ended the topic "let's just meet with our contact."

The four of them walked shoulder to shoulder up to the front desk officer, a young blonde woman probably on an internship, and Ruby dinged the bell. She was taken aback for a moment, the bell being there to grap the officer's attention, of which they already obviously had, meaning that this Huntress looking girl just dinged the bell for no other reason than because she wanted to. She would've laughed if Ruby didn't look so crestfallen and sweaty. And didn't look like a little girl missing an eye.

"Can I help you?" she asked.

"Yes, we're here to meet Detective Smith of the, or, of Vale's fifth precinct."

"Oh," the woman said, typing briefly on her computer before turning back to the four teenagers and instructing them "just head up the stairs, go through the door, and hug the left wall until you're in the main office. He'll be waiting for you."

"Thank you" Ruby politely replied. 

Just up the stairs, Yang asked "Mr. Smith, are you serious?"

Before Ruby opened the door, she raised her shoulder's and agreed "I know right? Just you watch, his first name will be John and he'll have a thick black beard or something, like, sunglasses."

The entered the second floor offices, and sure enough, there were people running everywhere with paper work, bagels, and coffee, and every person had a Mistral MK8 pistol holstered on their belt. One wouldn't be too far off to imagine a game where you search for clear table space or a empty trash bin. Following the left wall like they were told, they entered the second half of the second floor, where a similar cast of people lined computers with equally messy desks and paper cups everywhere.

In little time, a detective noticed the brightly colored huntresses waiting in the door way and called out to somewhere out of sight "Hey James! They're here!" Upon hearing his first name, Ruby threw a look to her teammates as if to say 'am I good or what?' They waited before responding.

"Ah, there you are..." said a man in his early thirties, presumably Mr. Smith, who came out in the typical black pants and white button up with black suspenders over it, and to mixed reactions, he had black sunglasses with a full black week old stubble growing. Weiss rubbed her eyebrow while Blake snuck in a slow face palm, the classic stereotype of a detective named Mr. Smith killing their willing belief that this man is completely natural and on accident.

"You're Mr. Smith?" asked Weiss, trying hard to seem pleasant.

"Yes, and yes, I know, I saw Vale P.D. as a kid, I didn't choose my names, I don't like the sun, and my hair grows fast, I already get enough crap from my co-workers, I don't need strangers to further the pain..."

"Well now I feel shitty" muttered Yang to herself. 

"Moving on, I assume you all have some idea of what's going on?" he asked as he opened up the file he had in the crook of his arm.

"Someone killed a Huntsmen, you need a team who can subdue them" Blake answered cooly.

"Huntsmen and Huntress. We found another body with the same method of murder." He handed them several photos depicting the victims with their heads turned backwards and obviously broken necks. Upon studying the picture further, the victims also appeared slightly... expired.

Team RWBY remembered just several days previous when Ruby asked Glynda what the fastest ways to defeat a aura user were, and the answers they got were surprising, but made sense.

'Frankly, if you're facing something of a high tier fighter, the only thing harder to fight would be Grimm of legend. Frankly, at that point, it's easier to kill your opponent than to hope to weaken them. Off the top of my head, there are four ways to quickly penetrate the aura of a willful combatant. First is to break their necks. This, of course, requires a great deal of strength, and forget the difficulty of managing to wrestle a fighter into such a position; then again, the strength required to break a strong fighter's neck is much less than the energy required to fight them head on... in this regard, I could imagine someone like Nora or Yang pulling it off...'

This revelation made what Mercury tried to do to Pyrrha all the scarier, as that could've been the end of their crimson haired friend.

"Both victims are unrelated beyond having attended Beacon to become licensed Huntsmen and Huntress. They lived in their apartments alone, kept the doors and windows unlocked according to their neighbors, nothing was stolen as far as we can tell, we can't pull prints off of skin, but we do know when the killer does it, and what conditions." He stuffed the photos back into his file, and from his pocket he pulled out four beepers.

"You sound confident" commented Yang, his smile not going unnoticed.

"Well, we wouldn't hire the services of Beacon students for a week if we didn't think we had the chance to use them, now would we?" 

"He's got a point" Weiss admitted, slightly impressed, but mostly just by his confidence.

He lead them out of the office and up the stair well to the third level, leading them past security and into the armory. It looked noticeably crammed with equipment, probably as a reaction to the prison massacre the year previous when dozens of security guards failed to stop a single man from breaking Roman out. "Each of you get a single flash bang and gas grenade. These are real expensive so I'll explain clearly, first toss a flash bang, then the gas grenade, then run. These aren't standard issue, rather, these are meant to work on serious business..." he handed out the heavy clumps of steel, one of each to each girl. The weight felt nice. "These flash bangs will probably pop anyone's eardrums in a closed room, and blind them for a good couple minutes, and these gas grenades could knock out a goliath... we think. Beats me, you probably know more about Grimm than we do."

Ruby chuckled, "don't worry, it beats us too." Normally, being surrounded by weapons with the familiar blue green light of fluorescents and smell of oil would excite her, but very few items in the armory caught her attention. It made sense really, after all, these were cops who were not trained to fight magnificent beast but keep peace within city walls. Mr. Smith was probably right, and the grenades they were given were the highest priced items they had.

Leading them back to the offices, Mr. Smith sat them down in the break room where he promised to give detail into what their jobs were to be. As he described, the victim's bodies were only discovered post mortem when neighbors started complaining about a rotten smell, but once questioned, they attested to hearing bumps in the night the week previous. Their times of death were about a week apart, and happened within the south edges of the industrial district. He figured the killer wanted to have an easy escape route through the agricultural district and into the forest of Forever Fall in case their plan went sour. Therefore, they would split up and work with a handful of other detectives to patrol the streets and within apartment complexes at night, and if anyone saw anything, they could use their beepers to send instant coordinates of their current location to everyone working on the case.

Once he was done explaining, Weiss asked the simple question of why someone would kill Huntsmen and Huntresses, to which he answered like it was as obvious as day, "The White Fang". Weiss didn't like the answer, but even Blake understood the sense behind it. The Huntsmen and Huntresses, or at least the human ones would most likely side with the politically mainstream for any number of reasons, such as seeing it to be the moral thing to do, desiring to have a home to return to, desiring to have dust companies willing to buy from, and having the privileges that come from being on the publics good side. Few would not rise to the call to fight 'terrorist' and therefore, if the White Fang wanted to stand a chance at fighting on equal terms, they needed to tip the scales away from the Combat Schools and affiliates. Assassination was only smart and pragmatic if it was the White Fang.

And so they went to work, patrolling for twelve hours at a time through the grimy streets of the southern industrial district, Weiss reminding her team every time they met up how ridiculous she thought the plan was, how they basically were hoping the killer would be stupid enough to attack while totally conspicuous people patrol the immediate area, putting who ever is the next target at extreme risk, if not downright condemning them.  
On the third night, a third body was found that dated back a week before the supposed first killing, and it too was in the same area, only strengthening the notion that patrolling the district was a good idea. While pondering the death of a strong fighter, Ruby looked on to the power plant and thought back to the second thing Glynda told them.

'Like a bubble, extreme amounts of wattage can temporary pop the protection of aura, but it'll come back after a few moments if they are at all grounded. It's something an arial fighter should worry about in the somewhat improbable case where they are fighting in a lighting storm. With this method, Neptune or Mr. Ren could take advantage of their affinity to electric based dust...'

On the fourth night however, the depressing searches stopped, and Ruby's luck rolled snake eyes.

It was in the dead of the night, and Ruby was making her way to the street light just in front of the stairs leading to the subway, the uncanny darkness of the industrial district being another trait that probably attracted the killer, or as they assumed, contract killer. Before she could reach the light however, she caught the faintest glimpse of a window opening somewhere in the black of a dark apartment, somewhere on the top floor of the brick building. A chord of fear and anxiety played along Ruby's spine, the possibility of a truly dangerous, sentient, lethal foe both excited her and made the realization that two very distinct results could happen; a: she's too late and there's a dead body, and it's her fault, or b: she finds the killer and he or she kills her too.  
But a job's a job she thought to herself, and steeling her nerves she ducked into a pitch black alley way and activated her beeper. If she was wrong about this, it could also mean she prevented one of her team members from finding the real killer. The possibilities were cruel. She pulled out her goggle and face mask, more as a comfort than for any other reason, and put them on as she jumped up ten floors onto the roof of the building in suspicion, landing squarely onto gravel. Attempting to be sneaky, she crouch ran to the service door and found it locked. Letting out a sigh of frustration, she pulled out the Atlesian Special Operations pouch Pyrrha got her for St. David's Day the year previous and pulled out the lock pick set for the first time. Fiddling with a bobby pin and pick for a minute, Ruby quickly came to the epiphany that she never bothered to learn how to pick locks, to which she slapped herself for. Instead, she pulled out the short pry bar that actually extended out to become full length. A broken door and minute later, Ruby was tip toeing down the decrepit hallway lined with peeling wall paper pitifully lit by old white incandescent bulbs, treading carefully towards roughly the string of rooms where she thought she saw a window open.  
There was nothing but silence, which made it worse and nearly gave the little Rose a heart attack when what sounded like a rifle went off, then silence again.

"..."

She heard the room it came from, she knew which door had to open, she knew how many seconds it would be before she crossed the rubicon, once more onto the breach. Knowing was the worse.

She half jogged to the door, her fear keeping her from a full sprint, and taking a deep gulp, she opened the door with haste. A single lamp had been turned on, but that was enough to light the small apartment, and the flood of information was more than Ruby could handle in a single moment.

"Hi" she said with surprise.

"Hey" Fox replied deeply, his blind white eyes as blank as ever. He was panting.

A man with a fully twisted neck slipped from his grip onto the floor, his rifle dropping by his twitching side. In the corner a woman in bed also shared the same broken neck. 

The pendulum in the clock went tic toc tic.

The room flashed white and Fox went flying out the window, but not of his own volition. Six huge spent shells bounced off of the floor, all smoking, and crushed lead bullets lined the floor leading up to the window, confirming six hits on Fox's body. Ruby let her support leg fall from the wall as she reloaded her clip, somewhat proud of her quickdraw that managed to catch the speedy Fox off guard. First it started with her whipping her Crescent Rose around her back, incidentally cutting the entire wall in the process, propping her leg against the still good wall to prevent flying away, and on semi-auto letting her trigger finger go wild, all in one motion so quick it literally threw Fox out the window. Fox went out the window.

Fox went out the window.

Ruby wrapped her mind around the concept. Fox was the killer, and he was out the window.

She followed pursuit, finding that Weiss had already intercepted him. Ruby dropped the ten stories and into the fray with Weiss, but Fox wasn't having it. He dodged Ruby's plummeting piercing attack, causing her spear end to get lodged into the side walk, and in the process of blocking Weiss's sword play on one side, yanked Ruby from her weapon and threw her off some thirty feet. With his full attention on Weiss, he round house kicked her in the temple, dazing her to allow him to with impunity pummel her repeatedly, finishing his combo before Ruby re-entered the fight with a downwards heel kick. Weiss bounced off of the ground with the force Fox put into the effective stomp.  
Ruby flickered past Fox and used her barrel to spin around and kick him back, breaking Crescent Rose from the concrete in the process. Ruby thought to what Glynda told her next.

'Something the most skilled fighters do instead of breaking aura flow by high wattage is by defusing aura protection with unarmed attacks using aura. It's tricky of course, but a aura infused strike has the ability to cancel out aura in the specific spot it was dealt but for only an instant. It's supposed to be followed by another attack, which can do massive damage to say the least. Imagine a surface of water, usually it's still, or maybe it gets disturbed, but at least the surface is smooth and intact; this is your protection most of the time. Now imagine dropping a stone into the pool of water, for just a moment, there is a pocket of air that follows the stone, piercing the surface of the water; this is the aura infused strike. From there, you essentially drop the proverbial dynamite into the air pocket and it blows up. Alternatively, a strike of any kind, just with immense force, has the same effect, where if it doesn't downright deplete all the aura from a person in one blow, their aura field shatters like glass for only a moment in that spot before repairing itself. With the former method, again, Mr. Ren or Sage could pull it off I believe. As for the latter, well, just about anyone can...'

Ruby shot herself straight at Fox, whom was already within whispering distance, aiming for a solid strike in his stomach. The plan? Focus on his belly button, than fire repeatedly until blood spills. It's do or die.  
The first stab hit, but unfortunately for Ruby, he reacted quickly enough to knock the spear end away from him, and he proceeded to knee a hunkered Ruby in the jaw, her mask providing a surprising amount of cushioning on her part, but none of the less sending her flying past a charging Blake.  
Weiss took the moment to make her own attack, setting up a trap glyph first where Fox stood, then where she knew he would try dodging to, but his speed beat her casting, and as a survival instinct, she stabbed at Fox. Everything Weiss did wasn't flawed in any particular way, her posture was right, her fencing stabs were more or less controlled, and her speed was of a higher degree... but Fox was quicker. And had two more years of experience doing just this.

He weaved left, grabbed her blade mid strike, palm punched Weiss in the left breast, snapped her blade in half, and stabbed the heiress half a foot below her collar bone. She stumbled back in shock, gawking at the growing red pattern on her chest.

"WEISS! NO!" Blake screamed.

Her bladed pistol whipped around and almost pegged him in the neck, he reached for it, she fired and pulled it away but he got a hold of it, two bullets at Blake, two bullets at a standing Ruby, two bullets for the distant Yang, and emptied the clip into Weiss for good measure. Weiss crumpled onto the cold gray ground.

The three teens left standing shifted gears. Things went blank. They couldn't feel the cold air or breeze anymore, they couldn't hear anything except a ringing in their ears, everything got crisper, and they were fueled by emotion, but they weren't coherent enough to even name the emotions they felt.  
Ruby disappeared, appearing alongside Weiss, Blake was raining down her second semblance, her purple crescent blades down on Fox, tearing the ground to bits in the process, and Yang's fire was sucking the oxygen right out of the air and her footsteps would've melted iron. Ruby disappeared again, appearing right behind Fox. Her scythe hooked around him and allowed Blake to distract him with a furious barrage of purple blades, of which he blocked, but even if he attempted to block Yang's punch, the result would've been the same. Unable to move, he took the full brunt of Yang's lunging shotgun sucker punch, of which was powered by Yang's semblance that was in full gear due to the heat she produced actually being too much for her fire tolerance to handle, amping her strength and power to it's peak.  
Fox tore through the yellow metal hand railing and straight down into the subway, Blake and Ruby racing down the stairs in a blood thirsty chase. Yang stumbled over to Weiss and collapsed, apologizing before she fell unconscious.  
They could hear the subway train approaching, but it didn't matter at the moment. Fox's jaw had broken and dislocated entirely from his skull, but the resultant injury didn't even dawn on the young man, his adrenaline forcing him to ignore all senses irrelevant to fighting and instead focusing on the two beasts craving his life. Barely getting a chance to stand up on his broken leg, the Black and Red warriors rammed him, Blake on the right, Ruby on the left, and pushed him into the speeding subway train just as it started passing by in all it's high shrieks and low pounding of metal on metal.  
He initially bounced off of the metal side, but Ruby anchored his right foot into the ground with her Crescent Rose, Blake locked his arm behind his back with her Gambol Shroud, and Ruby... she remembered the last thing Glynda said.

'The last way you ask? You suffocate them...'

"DROWN IN YOUR BLOOD YOU BASTARD!"

Ruby pushed his face into the running side panelling with all her might. His head jumped every time it hit a ledge or rivet head or the gap in between carts, and red smeared the side of the train, and at some point without them realizing it, half his brain had smeared too. Inside the carts, several people called the cops as quickly as their fingers could dial.

Once the subway train had completely passed, they let Fox's body go limp, and fell into sitting positions. Blake looked in shock at her trembling hands, futilely trying to wipe the blood from her face. Ruby wiped the blood off of her goggle, and stared vacantly at the mess that once was Fox's head. She let her head go limp too, she let it tilt backwards a bit, and off to the side. 

"Huh" Ruby muttered. "We just killed Fox." She clicked her tongue. She looked at herself, Red like roses indeed.

Tears streamed down Blake's cheeks, but her eyes hadn't even the chance to turn red first.

In their period of confusion, the Vale City police came in and arrested them. They screamed out for Weiss as they were driven to questioning.

-End Chapter 6-


	7. Lesson in Law

*Imagine Lien as equivalent to something like cents or Yen. The 2000 Lien card that Jaune picked up a long time ago was the equivalent to a twenty dollar bill. Since we don't know the actual value of Lien in universe yet, it just makes sense to guess it works similarly.*

Ruby stared down at the smooth and polished concrete, bored and slightly cold. It smelled of bleach. Her dad Taiyang was still rambling on about one thing or another about motorcycles with the undivided attention of her six year old sister, Yang, whom still had dirty blond hair and two long braids. 

"Daddy?" Yang asked in a innocent and hopeful voice, "will I get to ride Bumblebee when I'm older?"

'That's right,' Ruby thought, 'their working on the bike, they've been working on the bike for the past five hours.' She just wanted to sleep, but she knew Taiyang wanted her company, so she stayed.

"Maybe you'll get to ride it, but only if we get it put back together" he laughed. The young rose looked up to see her father run his hand playfully through Yang's hair. Black streaks of dirt and grease were left in her sister's hair, but Yang didn't care; she wouldn't care till later. Taiyang looked over to the sleepy Ruby, all bundled up in a red hoody, and said "maybe your sister will get to ride it too! But we'll see, she hasn't shown any interest yet..."

'Not particularly' thought Ruby, 'While it's interesting how it works, once I learn how to go fast on my own, what'll be the point?'

Taiyang rolled the four piece carburetor over so the top was facing up, and four separate boreholes sat without their rubber gaskets and vacuum pumps. He held out a hand, "hand me the needle braces, and make sure they have all their shelling's too."

Yang gave him a crooked eye. "And by shelling's you mean the single fat washer?" She dropped the four plastic beige pieces into his large opened hand. He eyed the piece briefly, confessing that he thought there was a clip or something more to it. Before long the pieces were put in.

"Uh oh..." exclaimed their father. He turned in his stool to face the door from the garage to the house, and carried a guilty look on his face. "I'll send the girls in for dinner soon, I promise..." Summer Rose was giving him a death glare, sharpening her kitchen knives while she was at it. She was very pretty thought Ruby. "Okay, five more minutes and you guys should go in, unless of course you want your mother to use me for dinner tomorrow, ha!" he burst out laughing, the murderous look on Summer's face also breaking into one of a slight upturned smile.

She waved the knife at him sternly, and in a scratchy voice warned him "five minutes okay? Otherwise, you're right, tomorrow night it's... Taiyang-a-bob, or uh..."

Yang almost jumped out of her seat, "Ooh! How about Sweet 'n' Taiyang-y pork!?"

Summer nodded in favor of the notion, "ooh, I like that idea" she said cooly, squinting her eyes at her husband.

Ruby giggled. Still tired though, she let her head fall back down to stare at the spot in-between her feet, back at the smooth polished concrete. She jerked her head back up however once she heard someone cat call at her. Waking up just now, her homeless looking cell mate liked what he saw, but was surprised to see Ruby's actual face without her growing hair in the way.  
Her eye and mouth were still and cold, her missing eye a surprise as she didn't have her head band with her, and her body language as a whole reading out 'predator'. To further his surprise, she bared the teeth on her left side and growled like a wolf. Rather, instead of surprise, her cell mate was stricken with fear and regret, scooting himself rapidly to the opposite corner of the cell. Ruby figured they must've brought him in while she was sleeping.  
Now regrettably fully awake, she leaned back into the brick layer wall that smelled of bleach and stared blankly into the empty adjacent cell across from their door, trying to remember what her dream was about, but found no luck in doing so. She turned to pondering the consequences of the night previous, and all the ramifications of killing Fox.  
As Ruby figured, Blake too was probably thinking about it, as the Rose could hear her teammate crying in the cell to her left, probably lamenting her first very personal murder, along with worries about what happened to Weiss. Ruby didn't cry though. For one reason or another, Ruby felt assured that Weiss was okay, and that things would be alright for her teammate, and wasn't very concerned about the morality of killing someone she knew. He was a bad guy... apparently.

"Blake?" she yawned.

She could hear the sniffling quiet down as Blake composed herself behind the brick wall. "Yeah?" she eventually answered.

"You okay?"

A sniffle. "No." Her voice was breaking.

"Okay..."

"..."

"Ruby?"

"Yeah?"

"Are you okay?" Blake's rendition of the question was a little more concerned and worried than her team leader's.

"Yeah."

"..." Blake's sniffles got quieter.

"..."

"How?" Blake asked disbelieving.

"I dunno." Ruby yawned again. "Just am."

"How'd you deal with it when you killed someone for the first time?" Blake asked. It was a question she had actually wanted to ask ever since the raid in their freshman year, when they saw Ruby take several people's lives with little hesitation after the first and no mention of it after the fact.

"It's simple. When someone holds open the door for you, you return the favor. Someone tries to kill you, you kill them back. If someone's the danger, you become the danger." It wasn't so simple though. Ruby vaguely remembered the turmoil of her conscience and the contemplation of her actions, how much she had to justify the means to herself, and the conclusion she came to after much trouble. Jaune understood, Ruby couldn't remember how she put it, her conclusion, but she remembered that Jaune had a clear understanding of it all and could put it into words; something about putting the odds into your favor.

Blake didn't want to buy it. "But is it so simple-" she was cut off as a guard walking up and down the isle of cells tapped the cages with his baton, telling them to remain silent. They complied. 

Bored out of her mind, Ruby carved a picture of a rose into the wooden benches they had as seats, played an hour of rock, paper, scissors with her cellmate, napped, and altogether refused to use the toilet in the corner of the cell. Around lunch time they were given a decently sized bowl of porridge that was quickly devoured regardless of the lack of taste. Blake started asking her leader what she thought was going to happen to them, and Ruby answered honestly that she didn't know.  
By the third night they had spent in jail, while Ruby was working on her thousandth sit up and Blake working on her handstand personal record at ten minutes, the young jail guard took them both to a questioning room. In it was the obvious one way mirror and the single lamp light over the wooden table, three chairs, and a barred window with a shattered moon barely visible through a cloud line. Ozpin was waiting for them.

"Girls" he greeted them. He didn't have his regular cane nor his coffee, rather his 'weapon', whatever it was or did, and his attitude seemed more stern and unforgiving than it regularly was with them. Not mad exactly, just serious. They understood however, as from his perspective, they could see how some students being the cause of death for another student regardless of the context would be awkward for the person responsible for the student's overall well being; if Fox had family, Ozpin was probably suffering for their rash actions.

"Headmaster" Ruby nodded back. They took their seats opposite from the older man. Blake didn't wait to ask what had been bothering her.

"Is Weiss okay!?" Ozpin wasn't surprised, and seemed quite prepared to answer.

"How much do you want to know? She's fine by the way, but the details of her injury are not so simple..." He had his arms folded, and for the first time in their memories, Ozpin seemed uncomfortable. Blake recalled the night he questioned her alone in a almost identical room, with the same overhead light isolating the people discussing things over at the lone table. Too many things have happened between now and then she thought.

"How bad is it?" the girl in red asked without hesitation. Ozpin looked Ruby over and saw her unwavering posture, deciding after a moment that he could disclose more than enough information.

"She had to have a lung transplant and rib reconstruction," he leaned forward placing his elbows on the table, taking a deep breath as if to confess all of his sins, "that is after she had a blood transfusion first." Blake gasped in horror. Ruby knew Blake still felt responsible for Weiss's fall, and as much as Ruby didn't harbor ill will towards Blake, she couldn't deny the fact that if Blake had planned better, Weiss wouldn't have almost died. 

"I'm assuming theres more to it?" Ruby asked. Ozpin's grim mood didn't suggest that it was so nice and tidy.

"Well, it would be an understatement to say that it was expensive for her surgery and for the current care she's under; she has yet to wake up and is still in the hospital of course. To make matters worse, she isn't an actual citizen of Vale but is attending Beacon under a academy voucher."

Blake raised a brow. "What does that mean?" Having spent most of her life as a fugitive, Blake consequently never learned the more complex legal bindings of civilization being more caught up in breaking the basic ones like damaging and theft of property.

"Vale pays a portion of health insurance for it's denizens, but someone like Weiss whose a citizen of Atlas doesn't get that coverage. Vale will pay for a small portion as apart of it's Humanity Clause, Weiss being a person and all, but hardly anything compared to multi layered surgeries." The only reason Ruby remembered such polices was because Taiyang made a point that she appreciate the insurance they had when she started going to combat school.

"Exactly," Ozpin started, "now the price for lungs have gone down as synthetically grown parts have entered the market in the past decade, but the lungs still cost 800,000 lien, and the surgery alone cost 7,000,000 lien. Add the rib reconstruction, you're talking about 3,000,000 lien. After a week in the hospital, she's going to have a bill of 12,000,000 lien after extensive care, of which Vale agreed to pay 200,000 lien for rather than the regular %50." As much as it bothered Blake, Ozpin seemed to become more comfortable when talking about numbers. What she didn't know was that Ozpin rarely had the chance to let off the burden of thought for his students, and talking numbers allowed him to pretend even if just for a moment that he wasn't in charge the lives of several hundred death prone kids.

"This will sound terrible but," Blake swallowed in a strange shame, bringing up a point she never thought could be a positive one, "she's an heiress to the largest dust company in the world... isn't money not an issue in the slightest?"

Ozpin looked down at the table.

"Ozpin?" Ruby asked. She was scared, what was it that bothered him so?

"I contacted Mr. Schnee, and he claimed that he didn't care for whatever trouble Weiss got herself into," he looked to them with an uncharacteristic anger, saying "he claimed that until she came back, he disowned her."

"What about any money to her name?" Ruby inquired in growing desperation.

"All revoked. She has no money to her name. He disowned her."

A silence fell between them. They had never known such matters were happening in Weiss's home life, shocked that she had never brought them up. They would've felt betrayed if they weren't too busy being worried about Weiss falling into debt to Vale and getting shipped back to Atlas.

"There is hope though." The silver haired headmaster leaned into his arm rest, bringing his cane onto his knees. "Mr. Fox had paid for a full year of intuition at Beacon, and that money is mostly unspent. I am currently in the middle of negotiating with Fox's apparently only living relative, his uncle in Vacuo, to putting his unspent tuition to paying for Weiss's medical expenses. At best, 7,000,000 lien could be go to Ms. Schnee."

Silence fell again. It was a disgusting thought Blake believed, a thought where the requirements to keep someone alive could be broken down into such lifeless numbers. She would ask what the price for life was, what the government had decided was the worth of a soul could be sold for, but she knew the answer she would get from her leader; Ruby would give her the price of a single bullet.

"Now, I have been keeping in touch with the city council and the prescient regarding the trial being held for you currently..."

"How is it?" Ruby interrupted. It bothered her no end how the were not allowed to attend their own trial, the guard explaining it to them that the city council was wary of them starting a second fight in the courtroom and deciding to void their right to bear witness.

"It could be better" Ozpin admitted, almost chuckling as he said so. His ease of tension also calmed the two girls, feeling as though they were home free. "The situation looks bad to be blunt. The prosecutor has a strong case stating several incriminating items against you two, such as that you chose the mission which would show premeditated thought, Blake's missing records, Ruby's shells were found in the room with the two latest victims whom were a married huntsmen and huntress couple, meaning that the crumpled lead they found on the ground could've been used to have shot the two of them without leaving marks, a destroyed wall done by Ruby's scythe, a broken window, Fox's method of elimination was particularly... brutal..."

"He almost killed Weiss!" Blake shouted, upset that her actions could've been interpreted as anything else than strong camaraderie. Ruby simply itched her brow in embarrassment, thinking of how to more modestly kill someone next time she had to.

"-And I understand, but, the passengers on the train give a one sided story against you, and you're history of convenient timing has raised many flags among the jury- in fact, the verdict he is pushing is that you Ruby Rose and you Blake Belladonna, that you two are working in tandem with the White Fang, setting up elaborate plots to confuse the public with staged fights and what not. Even I reconsidered my trust in you, especially when told you had killed Fox-"

Blake flinched, she didn't like how Ozpin put it so bluntly.

"-Sorry, but yes, he made a strong case for you two having Weiss hurt to make it appear as though you fought Fox in self defense, when in reality you planned out premeditated murder on him and countless others like him..."

Ruby slammed her forehead into the table. Then again. Then she did it again after that. "So we're screwed is what you're saying?" she asked, rubbing her nose in regret.

"But, Ms. Rose, I believe you have a stronger case for you. Testimony from team CFVY states that Fox wasn't where he should've been, and that they admitted to him sometimes wandering off at night throughout their Grimm extermination shifts down south of the agricultural district, putting him as a likely suspect for the string of murders. Once they told me this, my faith in you had been reaffirmed, but it goes on from there," he smiled, reassuring them, "the jury has been informed of the physical contradictions of the accused crime and your capabilities. Fox would've been far more capable of the murders than either of you, justifying you're attempted apprehension of him and results. Also, Roman has been branded as apart of the White Fang officially by the city council, and as such, the injury he inflicted upon Ruby's eye gives notion that she is an opposing force to the White Fang instead of the prosecutor argument she's fighting for them. To top it off, as you might remember last year during St. Davids Day, there was another string of murders..."

"I remember" replied Blake. She remembered Ren and Nora talking about the headlines Jaune read out to them earlier, how some sponsor who had paid for the portion of Ren and Nora's intuition that Vale didn't cover with scholarships was killed in his home.

"The son of the murdered CEO described the killer in rather vague terms of the time, but when the Vale City Police questioned him yesterday, he denied recognizing you two, but said Fox was in fact the one he saw that night. If the boy wasn't so young, the case would be closed immediately, but even with his testimony not completely trusted, the jury is leaning heavily towards attributing your predicament to bad timing." Ozpin seemed somewhat pleased.

"But then this raises questions," Blake thought out loud, "like who Fox is working for, or what his motives were. We had a potential mole under our noses this entire time and we didn't notice it." 

The room got colder. Blake was right, and Ozpin had thought about it, as did everyone else. A growing contention was if any moles remained in Beacon, and a more worrisome concern was if there was more traitors, how many? What if Coco, Velvet, and Yatsuhashi were all actually moles? What if a professor was one? What about the newcomers? What about the visitors during the Vytal Festival? After all, there were infiltrators the last time through, one of them killing Sky Lark, what if more came? The paranoia was enough to drive someone mad, and that in itself was another concern for Ozpin to ponder.

Ozpin looked displeased once again. "I regret having spent 3 years of my faculty resources towards training Mr. Fox, only to find out now after he almost killed your teammate and that he is working with our enemy, and I feel as though Beacon has been defiled through his betrayal, but we have no choice but to continue on, only now we can make efforts to weed out any unsavory characters such as him." He stood up, a new vigor about him. He grabbed his cane weapon. "Your trial ends tomorrow. I expect to see you all at Beacon by tomorrow night..." and out the door he left.

The two girls sat there, synched in their thoughts. Although inappropriate, they still found humor in that they would be returning to Beacon on time from their mission regardless of the unexpected turn of events. The next day's night would've been the last day of their mission had nothing happened. 

"Funny how that works eh?" Ruby elbowed Blake lightly.

Blake hid her smirk. A long sigh. "I can't lie, it's certainly interesting."

Ruby chuckled. "Ha, you can't lie but'ch ya can murder someone? Ya murderer? Eh?"

Blake's eyes started to well with tears as she cried out "Ruby!? How can you even joke about something like that!? What if Yang found out!?"

"Hey, if anyone should be crying it's me... cause I have the one eye, it has to work overtime when I get upset, get it?" she giggled as she pointed to her empty eye. She thought it was funny. Blake just cried harder.

-End Chapter 7-


	8. News

Blake woke up in a cold sweat, her long black hair sticking to her face. Three days without a shower or a brush left it messy and greasy, a personal peeve of Blake's, but it was the least of her concerns. When the time came, the jail cell doors opened and Mr. Smith handed each of them a large box containing their belongings prior to incarceration, allowing them to remove their blue overalls and don their iconic clothes once again, along with Ruby's headband, Blake's ribbon, and each of their's weaponry plus ammunition. Once they were ready and the papers were signed, Mr. Smith walked them out into the daylight. 

"You've been acquitted" he first said somewhat out of obligation, lighting up his cigarette the moment they stepped outside to where he parked his car. "It was actually really close at the end where the prosecutor switched focus from the two of you to Ruby specifically. Get in" he gestured towards his cheap beige car with substantially more expensive grey leather seats inside not befitting the rest of the package.

"Well, Ozpin told us it was in the bag, so..." Ruby started, suggesting that there wasn't much to worry about from the start. She opened the front rightist door, taking shotgun and leaving the back all for Blake.

"Yeah well I was acting as your lawyer and I was there the whole time!" he said, seeming to get agitated. "Ozpin is one of the most influential people in the world, a snap of his fingers and alot can happen; but, one place he does not influence is in the courts, the incumbent council of judges have been tired of his shit for years and would love nothing more than to throw a wrench into his agenda. He shouldn't be so cocky." The motor started right up with a purr, giving the two girls the idea that the car had been modded heavily.

"Is that why we were arrested... no, that wouldn't be it. I've been wondering, why were we arrested exactly in the first place? I mean, I get that it looked... bad, but right in the mission summary it insinuated that if it came down to it, we would have to take down the murderer if we weren't capable of detaining them." 

"Yeah, and how come the focus switched to me at the end?" Ruby interjected. The middle aged man pulled out of the police department's parking lot and into mild traffic, making his way over to the on ramp for the highway.

"Shut up Ruby, I can't answer two completely different questions at the same time." He was mad. They didn't know why, but they knew he was. "You were arrested first," he raised a finger, "because a patrol from our department who isn't or wasn't working on the case and wasn't informed about you found you before we did. Second, by law, all participants in a civil dispute are to be properly investigated to ensure the victim is really the victim and the aggressor the aggressor. Fox being dead, that puts you guys on one side of the scenario, and it's required that it's figured out what category you guys fit into. Third," he waved his three fingers as a point, "Fox was a huntsmen in training, meaning it could've been totally possible for him to have been a target of the killer, and the rest you already know. I chose to act as your lawyer cause I felt that you guys couldn't have been guilty, and the talk going around was not in your favor."

He sped down the highway, passing people left and right, making excellent time and pulling off the highway right next to the hospital Weiss was being kept in. "Thank you..." Ruby said weakly.

"Yeah, well, you..." he sighed. "Right at the end, they tried ruling you as a danger to society, bringing up the incident last year during the Vytal festival tournaments, when you almost killed that one asshole Jack Vorst. They made a strong case for you being out of control. They even got preachy about morals." The car stopped at the front doors, Smith putting the car into park but kept the engine running. He rested on the steering wheel, clearly still having something to say to them.

"Do they not like Ozpin that much?" asked Blake, nervous in asking. Ozpin represented sanctuary in their minds, and this news of his enemies being in positions of power worried them, threatened them. Maybe they would be attacked again.

Another sigh. "It's not just that. It's their job to also calm the public in times of panic, and you probably don't know, but, this is big news right now. People want the bad guys to be punished, they want to see action, and the council knows that. People wanted to see you guys thrown in prison or executed to feel like a difference was made. Best case scenario, you guys were serial killers that would've put a stop to all the domestic murders, but instead, at least from where I'm sitting, you guys killed a serial assassin, which means there will be more, and someone's trying to hurt us. You have to be careful..."

"Was it really news?"

"Huge. The papers skeptical of your innocence have been calling you 'Ruby Rose the Red' or 'Crimson or Bloody Reaper'. People are eating it up." 

The two girls gave long sighs accompanied by lost gazes. What were they to do they thought, never anticipating becoming publicly infamous. They looked to their associate, whom pointed to the hospital doors, essentially telling them to leave. "Well thank you, Mr. Smith, goodbye," said Blake politely.

He waved his hand, but not to say 'bye'. "Don't say goodbye. I think we'll be seeing each other again, and it won't be under good circumstances."

They stepped out of his car and without hesitation, he drove away out and back to the highway. Inside the white linoleum hospital, they sighed in at the front desk and were directed to the third floor where Weiss was. Before they got to the room however, Neptune walked out and past them with his forehead wrinkled in anger. They tried saying hi to him, but he ignored them and kept going. Once in the room though, they forgot about Neptune when they saw Weiss laying meekly on the bed, the picture almost too sad, and too bright to look at what with the sun coming in through the window and lighting up the white bedsheets, her pale and fair skin, and her scattered silver hair. An oxygen mask slowly fed her breathes that slowly raised and lowered her tiny chest, and the monitor beeped a noticeably slow heartbeat. Yang was the closest to being this debilitated towards the end of their freshmen year, when her lung too got punctured during the raid, but it was a much simpler fix in comparison to Weiss's full body pierce and multiple gunshot wounds.

They spoke softly, "Weiss?"

Coincidently, Yang was sitting right beside Weiss, holding her hand and keeping her company. The blonde bruiser motioned 'closer' with her free hand to the two newcomers. Yang pulled them in close, leaning them over Weiss's head. Her eyes were closed, but she proved herself to be awake when she pulled down the mask to whisper before breaking out into wheezing coughs. She whispered, "My sword... is broken."

Blake started tearing up. She may have not gotten along with Weiss plenty of times before, and she knew they would fight more in the future, but her world shattered at the thought of Weiss not being there. For a Huntsmen or Huntress to confess their spirit being broken, to admit their done and given up, for Weiss to...

Ruby chuckled. "Okay Weiss, we'll fix Myrtenaster for you." Weiss nodded. Blake blushed. 

"Oh," she said. Blake let out a sigh of relief. She hid the fact that she felt a little stupid for misinterpreting Weiss's words and reacting to such a degree.

Without another word, Ruby confidently walked out of the room to leave a feeble Weiss alone with Yang and Blake, Blake who didn't actually want to be there and so followed Ruby immediately. As long as Weiss was in the state she was in, the black feline felt a crushing guilt for her condition, and seeing the sad sight only made it worse. So she followed her leader.

"Where can we find possessions?" Ruby asked the first Nurse that walked by. After a confused moment, she told them to look around the base floor.

After wandering around, the two girls found the patients storeroom, a chubby woman inside managing the flow of items behind a plexiglass barrier. "What can I do for ya?" she asked.

Ruby flashed her ID visitor's card that identified her as a Huntress, which was redundant considering her massive gun sitting on her hip while in the middle of a hospital. "I'm the team leader for Weiss Schnee, and I would like to see her belongings..."

"Ah, we just got back the box last night! The police had to first examine it and all, you know, it being evidence and all." She disappeared into the storeroom for a minute, leaving Blake and Ruby to stand in silence. The chubby woman came back with a long box, a sticker saying 'closed case' laid over another sticker that said in red letters 'evidence'. She slid the box underneath the opening in the clear barrier, then pulled up an inventory tab on her desktop ready to record any transfers. "Are you taking the whole thing?"

"No, not exactly." They opened the box to find alot of plastic wrapping around each article belonging to Weiss, the things on top being her clothes. Blake cringed and bit her lip, drawing blood. Weiss's jacket had several holes in it, both front and a few less in the back, her dress being only worse. Most of the holes belonged to the shots from Blake's pistol, causing Blake to start breathing ragged herself.

Oblivious to the taller girl's freakout, the chubby woman started bragging. "Yeah, we know how you people can get touchy about saving clothing and what not, so once we got it all back, we washed the blood out of it for you. Let me tell you, getting days old blood out of clothing, especially white clothing, that's a trick no one but us have perfected. But yeah, sow that up, and it'll be good as new..."

Ruby pulled out two separate baggies, one with the handle and hilt, plus several inches of blade, and in the other sat most of the blade, wiped clean of blood. "We'll be taking these two."

The woman hit several keys with gusto before pulling the box back into her domain. "Alrighty then dearies, that'll be all?"

"Yeah." And with that, they left for the lobby.

"Where are you going?" Blake asked, Ruby heading out.

Ruby turned confused for a moment, pointing with her free hand outside, "uh, I'm going to fix it..." she said referring to Weiss's sword.

"That's it? Weiss almost dies, we almost go to prison, and you're not even going to say bye to her before you go off and hide in a workshop or something?" Blake inquired calmly, though she felt anything but. She couldn't figure out what was bothering her, whether it was how close things got to turning for the worst, or how they didn't have any information on Fox, or how she was still coping with the guilt of murder and Weiss's injury, but she knew that Ruby's relaxed reaction to it all was inappropriate. Ruby didn't think so though.

The automatic door tried closing, but Ruby's foot kept it from doing so. "If you feel like you should be feeling something... I don't know, don't I guess. There's no point. The best thing to do right now is mend what's broke..."

"Like my morals?" she bit back.

Ruby rolled her eye. "Your biggest regret should be that we didn't figure out anything from him. Otherwise, everything else turned out well. You're a huntress Blake, taking the spark that is something's life and smothering it out till it's cold and dark is your job and skill. If you don't like it, don't think about it. It's what I do, sometimes..." she itched her head in slight doubt.

"How can you be so cold?" Blake glared.

Ruby lifted her head band and opened her eye, showing the empty socket. "Pain's the best teacher, and it puts things into perspective. And to quote one final random person who figured it out, pay onto others as they would onto you. I don't care what conclusion you come to Blake, just find some way to justify it to yourself and move on. And, if you wanna know, and if we're being totally honest, I just channel a whole bunch of anger, heh, I don't even know where most of it comes from." Still feeling like the words didn't come out right, Ruby gave up and finally walked out the door, leaving Blake to think to herself. "Why do the words never sound right?" she asked herself. 

She looked off into the distance, spotting Beacon off and aways. She clenched tightly onto the pieces of Myrtenaster and took a deep breath, stretching her stiff legs. Counting down from three, she started dashing towards her destination, fully aware that she wasn't going to make it halfway before tiring out.  
Blake contemplated it all, but there was no solace. Maybe time was the key? Whatever it was, she didn't make much progress, quickly spotting a newspaper with headlines about them printed in bold black letters. Mr. Smith was honest when he said it was big news. A pit in her stomach seemed to deepen as she read on, the writer somehow managing to make all parties involved seem like the bad guys, Ruby and her vicious, Beacon corrupt and unsafe, Fox insane, the cops incompetent, with the only exception being Weiss whom is depicted as on her death bed. It was mean, but it was believable.

That same news had found it's way to most everyone. 

Raven Branwen read it on her scroll out in the far reaches of the forests of Vale, cutting down a swathe of trees down in her frustrations. Qrow, disguised as a White Fang member, listened as a bat faunus lamented their compatriot's death, hiding his own anger as they referred to Ruby as the 'Bloody Reaper'. Taiyang cried to think his innocent little girl was gone, Zwei whimpering at his side. Winter Schnee similarly was struck hard by reality when she realized the danger her sister faced off in some far land, how she might not get the chance to say goodbye if bad luck came around again, and it terrified her. Penny refused to believe any of it. Coco, Scarlet, and Yatsuhashi returned to Beacon ashamed and betrayed. Inside Beacon, Jaune and Pyrrha dueled furiously to distract themselves, both angry and afraid.  
On the roof of their dorms with their legs dangling off the edge, Nora and Ren sat under the setting sun, trying to clear their heads.

"Ren," Nora started, speaking uncharacteristically sorrowful, "if anything happens-"

"-I know" he cut her off. "It'll be alright." Ren pulled Nora in closer to him, resting her head against his chest.

"I don't know Ren" she said with doubt.

"I promise."

"Don't make a promise you can't keep..." she said, eyes tired and heavy.

He held out his pinky, prompting her to hold her's out. They locked pinkies and shook on it. 

Closing the door behind him, Roman wiped the blood from his hands and lit his cigar, lost in his thoughts. He worked his way upstairs and into the unofficial break room containing the only carpeting and heating in the entire factory, the door falling off it's hinges at his touch. He scooted the body off of the big brown comfy chair next to the lamp and sat down, exhausted. Flicking the light on, he nearly had a heart attack to find Jack Vorst sitting on the other side of the coffee table.

"What the hell man! What are you doing here!?" Roman shouted.

Jack took on a mock hurt expression, pointing to himself as if it would be unbelievable to detest his very being. "Why Roman, that's no way to greet an old friend..."

Roman pointed his cane at the boy accusingly, angrily listing back "ok, first, you're not old, second, we're not friends, third, it's not a greeting, and fourth, fuck you!"

"Well, to answer you're unreasonable question," Jack made it clear he enjoyed antagonizing Roman, as he enjoyed annoying just about everyone else, "why should it be a surprise I'm here? I live in Atlas after all." Roman scowled at him. "I have a few paid spies to keep tabs on where my buddies are, or at least I had a informant here, say what's with all the dead White Fang?" he pointed to the bodies lining the wall and the one on the ground.

"Theres been a separatist movement. The less fanatical faunus have finally broken away, saying that our operations are having less and less to do with their freedom. These monkeys were actually killed by their own brethren believe it or not. You have money to pay for spies?" Roman blew a puff of smoke, feeling warmed by the small burn of his cigar contrasting against the cold chill of the whole factory.

"Money to spare actually, invest in the right firms, sabotage the competitors, it's easy. Well then, if I may ask, if you didn't kill them, then whose blood is that?" Roman looked down to see red spatter on his stomach, grunting in anger.

"I just had this cleaned." He leaned his head back into the chair, sighing. "I had to coerce some super genius we kidnapped, that's all. He'll work for us."

"Well, speaking of working," Jack slapped down his scroll onto the table between them, news from Vale pulled up on the screen. Roman looked down at what he presented. "I see you guys are a special member short what with Fox's accident..."

Roman smiled. "I'll cut a deal with you." Jack sat back in surprise; that was too easy he thought. "My scientist doesn't have all the machinery he needs to build our toys. Since you seem to have a knack for this kind of thing, I'll let you join our little venture out here if you can manage to procure what he needs."

"I hate to ask, but seeing as how my informant seems to be dead, I guess I'll give, but, what is it you guys are doing out here exactly? Whose here?"

"It's me, Mercury, Emerald, a few expensive mercenaries, a few insane white fang," he paused, thinking, "I think that's it. Cinder wants me to start on building up our forces while they continue their things."

"Building your forces? What's this scientist going to build all by himself?"

Roman grinned even more so than before. "You don't know? Being Ironwood's nephew, I imagined you could figure it out." Reaching into his pocket, the orange haired man pulled a white key card between his two fingers, "you wanna find out?"

"Wanna know? Why of course..."

Roman threw the card to Jack expertly. Catching the plastic in between his own two fingers, his robotic arm shimmered briefly in the light of the room. 

"Then why don't you ask him yourself."

-End Chapter 8-


	9. Taking Note

Ruby, Nora, and Mr. Crauch all stood in a circle around the sketch on the tabletop, staring with intent, thinking. Saws and files were at work in the background of the forge room, sparks from a welder illuminated a whole corner, and somewhere a student spilled a box of bolts. On the sketch that was on the table was a chest piece, a rough idea of what Ruby wanted to make for Weiss as soon as Weiss returned from the Hospital. The question posed by Ruby was what alloy did she want to make it out of.

"How about steel?" the Blacksmith said slightly annoyed, pre-pared to be told what a bad idea it would be for one reason or another.

"No, it would be way too heavy for her..." Ruby mumbled back, still staring at the paper.

"Steel titanium?"

"It would still be heavy for her, it'd rust, and it'd shatter if her aura wasn't there to protect her..."

"Isn't that the point? The armor should save her, not itself."

"You know why. It has to stop alot, and repeatedly. Just to be safe..."

"Hard brass?"

"And it has to be silver. We could paint it, or chrome it, but then it would chip. I'm not going to lie, Weiss doesn't take as much care of her things as we do, so it has to be long lasting..."

"Aluminum..."

"Don't make me laugh."

"Actually..." Nora finally spoke up, chipper and confident.

"Yeah?" the other two said.

"I still have aircraft grade aluminum that would be perfect for this."

"You have 60zb aluminum?" the larger man asked with suspicion.

"Yeah, a couple years ago the military scrapped a whole bunch of obsolete models and sold the metal at pennies for a pound" Nora answered. 

Ruby waved a hand. "Wait, wait, hold on, what's special about it?"

Mr. Crauch put his hands on his hips as he spoke, clearly well versed in his knowledge of the subject but kind enough to simplify it when telling others. "It's aluminum with rare earths, mercury, silicon, and a combination of the other popular metals that makes it wicked strong, deadens vibrations, and of course is resistant to corrosion. They use it for the important parts of aircraft like jet blades and the like, but it's incredibly expensive for no reason other than the rare earths in it." He turned back to Nora, "why were they selling it for so cheap?"

She shrugged with a smile. "Apparently the bureaucrat in charge of selling the stuff had no idea what he was doing, and who am I to tell a government man how to do his job? He was happy to give it to me." The other two smiled with her.

"I figure that's not what your hammer is made of, but what about that?" Ruby pointed to the silver armor around Nora's elbow that was starting to gain extensions towards her wrist.

"Oh silly Ruby," Nora teased, "unlike Weiss, weight makes me more effective as a fighter. These are actually cast iron with a chrome acid bath." 

"Ah," Ruby said. She knew why Nora would choose something as simple as cast iron. Firstly, it was easy to cast, duh, second, it was one of the best metals for killing vibrations, which Nora needs to cancel out the damage on her elbows from her increasingly heavy blows, third off, has high wear resistance, and fourthly, it would add weight that would add more priority to her already intimidating attacks. "Alright so, how do you use it, the aluminum I mean?" she asked to no one in particular.

"Nothing too hard, you just have to make a closed die and hot forge it."

"I can get you the instructions for the heat treatment process" Nora offered.

Ruby clicked her tongue in satisfaction. "Yeah, that'd be great, thanks."

-End Chapter 9-

 

 

***Author's Note***

Alright, so I was told that I should've been doing a running author's note that pointed out the references for each character and to explain the more obscure points, so in accordance with my habit of over loading things and doing stuff improperly, here's an info dump/some thoughts plus some current stats on every single character! If you read all the way through this, brag in the comments about how much of a badass you are... I'm serious, you've earned the right if you can read all of this.

Real quick, a school year starts at the beginning of fall, and the assumption is that freshman start when they're around 17. I got the numbers on their heights for the first two volumes from the wiki, meaning that the numbers you see here will be somewhat different.

-Second Years-

Ruby Rose: Age 16 (spring birthday), height 5'3". The only thing I feel I need to point out is that her cloak has a silver fur line added on the hem of the hood to inspire a more wolf-y feel that goes with her 'Little Red Riding Hood' theme.

Weiss Schnee: Age 18 (winter birthday), height 5'3". In canon it's made clear she has a troubled home life and probably crappy childhood, and the nature of her trailer shows hints of being relevant, and by her name sake of basically 'cold', I thought her character evoked the idea of having suffered or silent endurance, which is why she has the scars she has. 

Blake Belladonna: Age 19 (autumn birthday), height 5'7". I still can't decide whether or not the purple slash beam things she uses several times (especially against Roman) are actually a second semblance or projected aura. Honestly, if it's the former, than that concept of multi semblances would support Yang's character (I'll explain), while the latter would coincide with Ren. I'm thinking it's projected aura though.

Yang Xiao Long: Age 18 (summer birthday), height 5'10". To go with Blake's idea of multiple semblances, we know Yang gets stronger as she suffers damage, but who else gets the idea she also has a secondary effect of being resistant to fire? The nature of the two perks are different enough that I can't think of them as one semblance. 

Jaune Arc: Age 18 (spring birth), height 6'2". No comment other than he's essentially a knight, so I've been playing the trope that his best traits lie in defense and enduring.

Nora Valkyrie: Age 18 (summer birth), height 5'2". Nora's smart. I feel I need to say that. I will again soon actually.

Pyrrha Nikos: Age 18 (summer birth), height 6'1". We all know she invokes a spartan or a legionnaire, but from what I've gathered, her finer points are in her traits outside of combat. Pyrrha, like Nora, is smart, and to add to it, is focused. Because of this, I figured that her skills in combat would stem mostly from her ability to learn and prioritize the skills necessary, which makes her all the better a teacher for Jaune to learn from.

Lie Ren: Age 19 (autumn birth), height 5'10". It's at this point in the roster where I realize and always think that to get as far as they have by the end of volume 2, each character has to be smart in their own way to survive: Ruby is focused/has a high functioning understanding of physics, Weiss is academic, Blake is observant/well read, Yang is clever/street smart, Jaune is analytical, Pyrrha and Nora are pragmatic with Pyrrha being especially thoughtful, while Ren is... I think he's just smart. Flat smart. He's well read and observant like Blake, but I think he's also scholarly like Weiss, focused, analytical, pragmatic, I just think he's all of those just to a lesser degree, making him alot more rounded out than the other main 8. I think that's what makes up for his physical deficiencies. As of the second year, he redesigned his Storm Flowers to have a third form where they take on large daggers, allowing him to go toe to toe with human opponents easier.

Sun Wukong: Age 19 (Summer birth), height 6'3". It's not just me, right? Who else gets the idea that he's supposed to be really good looking, along with Neptune... actually his whole team? In the tournament arc I wrote for the first year, I had Sun defeat Yang as I figured Sun actually has to be somewhat intelligent to be a team leader as we have seen with all the others so far, even Cardin, that I'd say it's safe to say that he could figure out her trick after watching previous fights and has the speed comparable to Neo's necessary to beat Yang and her power threshold.

Scarlet (Waiting on the third Volume for a last name): I'm assuming he's a mage character like Weiss. A witch, scarlet (letter), puritans, Nathaniel Hawthorne reference anyone?

Sage (Waiting on the third Volume for a last name): Probably similar to Yang, let's be honest. Sage, monk, that's the connection I see. Plus he has tattoos, and I feel like he uses them (with aura infused ink) to fight.

Neptune Vasilias: Age 18 (Winter birth), height 6'4". No comment.

Cardin Winchester: No comment.

Russel Thrush: He Dove have some chemistry in my opinion. In the fight we saw between them and Pyrrha, Dove and Russel were well coordinated enough to push her back and force her to get tricky. I think Russel would be a bit of a punk, but I think he would have some skill to back it up.

Dove Bronzewing: I think he is actually really good. He went toe to toe with Pyrrha and only lost because Cardin hit him while he was focused. Out of the whole team, I think he would be the last man standing any day. I made him mute because we have yet to hear him talk in the actual show, and he seems like that kind of guy. Also he competed with Pyrrha without a shield, second weapon form, and barely used any rounds, so I think he has a lot of potential.

Sky Lark: He was the weakest link in his team, and his fight against Pyrrha shows that he has even less going for him than Jaune does post awakening. In a storm, the smallest candles are the first to blow out, and thus Sky Lark lies dark.

Robin Pine: Age 18 (fall birth), height 5'6". Brought in from Mistral, Ozpin filled in the fourth spot of team CDRL with her to increase their effectiveness. She first appeared as Jaune's opponent in the tournament in their first year, a battle of which she lost easily. She uses a .300 cal Sniper rifle that seconds as a sword, allowing her to fit right in with team CRDL's basic weapon layout, and her out fit isn't too far off from Russel's. Her color themes are all forest colors, and she is a gender bent version of Robin Hood basically, with a black sleeveless hoody underneath a green vest and cargo shorts. She can essentially curve bullets as her semblance, again referencing Robin Hood. Pretty tom-boyish with short brown hair.

Team BNSH (BaNiSH): Up and coming second year team of Beacon, though they look like they would belong more in Vacuo. All of them share a desert colored theme, and were nothing special in their first year. After summer training given to them straight from Ozpin, where they went to Vacuo (hence the name banish), they came back different (hence the desert theme) and much stronger. After realizing that there are quite a few students in each year as apparent through out multiple episodes, it wouldn't be realistic if RWBY, JNPR, and SSSN were the only note worthy teams. Thus introducing team BNSH. Also, they all own linen cloaks complete with hoods, but they don't wear them unless on a mission.

Ben Biscotti: Age 19 (Fall birth), height 6'0". Leader of BNSH. He has short dirty blond hair, is tan, and is a shotgun brawler like Yang, except with the gauntlet reaching more and covering his hands with brass with linen wraps. Biscotti is a bakery item. Chocolate colored shorts, cream colored t-shirt, tan vest with rounds. 

Nola Gran: Age 18 (Spring birth), height 5'4". Nola Gran, Gran Nola, Granola, get it? Also dirty blonde with a pony tail, tan, uses a dagger tied by wire to a pickaxe backed by a shotgun, packs a great ariel game and armor penetration. Lots of oat colors, baggy cargo pants, fingerless gloves and thickly wrapped elbows and for using the wire, and a simple short sleeved button up shirt with crossed bandoliers. Wears the black beads necklace.

Sandell Cavalier: Age 19 (Summer birth), height 6'4". Sand(ell) colored, and cavalier is a horsemen. Has short curly black hair, has a scarf that doubles as a turban, dark like Emerald, and uses a lance/spear that can be propelled by heavy sniper rounds, and of course is sniper capable. Sandell is the only member of BNSH to wear any armor, covering his simple loose attire with strips and plates of bronze, but covers it up again with white cloth to prevent oxidation or overheating. He's the heavy hitter of the team. 

Flaxi Harumi: Age 19 (Fall birth), height 5'11". Flaxen is a lighter shade of hazelnut. Pale skin, long brown hair, and is asian like Ren. She uses a weapon mentioned in a earlier chapter, a new model, basically a katana that can become a segmented sword whip. Wears black tights like Blake but has a beige sleeveless and thin shirt that extends down to her waist where it then becomes a long skirt that covers only the back half and is split down the middle to allow freedom of leg movement. 

Team CFVY: They were the best fourth year team. Were.

Coco Adel: More bullets equals more dead things. And by bullets we mean the largest and most powerful bullets available to buy in bulk. Coco is the kind of person who leads the charge. Wears the black beads necklace.

Fox Alistair: Like Ren on steroids. Blind but somehow still capable as hell, he was also apparently an assassin sleeper agent for Cinder's faction. Dead now, but mostly due to bad luck on his part. Six rounds at point blank from Ruby and falling out of a window will do that to someone... and getting Yang to break her regular limits and yeah... you guys know.

Velvet Scarlatina: WHATS IN THE BOX!!! Who here has seen Se7en?

Yatsuhashi Daichi: Straight strength plus straight up sword equals HOW DO YOU BLOCK THAT?

-Final Round Tournament Contestants-

Phlox Sky: Age 19 (Summer birth), height 5'9". Phlox is in reference to purple, which along with black is her theme. Hailing from Vacuo, she can accurately use her semblance, gravity manipulation, to very dangerous effect. That's where the Sky is in reference to, as her style is based around dancing... in the sky. She uses a scimitar sub-machine gun, looks like an Arabian dancer girl (except a little more modest), and lost because Ruby is quicker and hits harder.

Auburn Mars: Age 19 (Fall birth), height 6'7". Big guy, semblance is super strength with no strings attached. Hails from Mistral, he made it to the final round of the tournament using his overwhelming style of giving nothing and taking everything. Resembling a Roman tower shield soldier, he wears heavy armor, uses a tower shield, uses a long spear, and has a magnificent beard. Mars is one of the ancient gods of War, and Auburn is his color theme. He lost to Pyrrha and Mercury because Mercury's attacks ignore armor mostly and Pyrrha is use to working around armor thanks to Jaune.

-Bad Guys-

Cinder Fall: You know her. She's been keeping on the down low.

Roman Torchwick: Gouged out Ruby's eye, you know him. Cinder is training him up for reasons. 

Mercury Black: You know him. Almost killed Pyrrha, likes girls, can be sly though that's no longer an option. He hits hard and is quite acrobatic, and seems durable.

Emerald Sustrai: Was bested by Blake, but is still around. Somewhat of an errand girl for Cinder's faction.

Neapolitan: Last time she was seen was during the raid on the White Fang's hideout. Left a mark on Yang's stomach during the Breach, but it has healed since then. Wears the black beads necklace.

Jack Vorst: Age 18 (Winter birth), height 6'2". Wants to be apart of Cinder's faction, and has knowledge of the old world. Sadistic and a severe asshole, Jack Vorst (german for frost) uses dual shotgun axes in tandem with his balanced strength, toughness, speed, and intelligence to overwhelm weaker foes. His semblance steals the heat from things on touch, capable of freezing water, and is a easy reference to Jack Frost in folklore where he's not a nice guy but rather a trickster in a loki kind of sense. His outfit is like Ironwood's (whom is his uncle) and has a robotic shoulder thanks to Ruby performing the equivalent to a orbital strike on him.

Alice Azure: Age 21 (Fall birth), height 6'4". Think Alice from Alice in wonderland, and Azure is blue. She leads her small team of Scarlet Mally and Sham Rock, and is literally, legally, and metaphorically insane, and always seems to be in a daze. Previously a third year sleeper agent for Cinder's Faction, she wields a flamberge style sword she appropriately named the Jabberwocky, and her semblance is that of light distortion. She lost her left arm to one of Ruby's AMAG rounds.

Scarlet Mally: Age 20 (Winter birth), height 5'7". Uses a weapon almost identical to Weiss's Myrtenaster. Scarlet Mally being a mouse faunus, she greatly resembles Tim Burton's version of Alice in Wonderland's door mouse whom uses a needle as a sword, and wears a similar royal garb in colors of black, white, and scarlet. She also shares Lewis Carol's original door mouse traits such as being a perpetual drunk whom spouts off weird phrases and oddities.

Sham Rock: Age 21 (Fall birth), height 6'6". Sham Rock, shamrock, dark green. Think Ozpin with green coat tails, ginger hair, with a green beret; he's the mad hatter of the trio. With super strength as his semblance, he uses a trick crossbow that has a insane drawback weight and fires iron rods of rebar. His trick crossbow is in reference to his cartoon counterpart whom is all over the place and has many a trick up his sleeve. Translation, along with Scarlet Mally's semblance which hasn't been discovered by our heroes, only the crossbow portion of Sham Rock's weapon has been seen so far.

Dante: Mentioned by name only so far, he is one of the leaders along side Cinder. I'm not going to say that Devil May Cry will not play any part into his inspiration, but for those of you not in the know, Dante was an Italian Poet who wrote the 'Divine Comedy' where he is led through the nine or seven rings of Hell by another poet named Virgil. At some point, long story short, there was an invasion, change of government, and Dante was exiled (in real life, not the book).

-Adults-

Grandfather Arc: Imagine John Hurt, voice and all.

Gorm Crauch: Age 47, height 6'5". Gorm is Irish for blue, of which he doesn't wear at all, and Crauch sounds like grouch, which he can be. Donning all black, he runs Beacon's forge as the resident black smith, and as a testament to his skills, he wields a four stage weapon and smokes a sailors pipe to further his nordic feel.

Professor Brown: Ha, some of you out there who still remember his one appearance probably thought I forgot about him, didn't ya? Well, might as well. He offers music lessons to students who want them, meaning he's got a small class, but as a registered Huntsmen, he acts as a substitute if the need ever arises. He's professor brown because he's the music teacher and there's the brown note, get it?

Joe Hazel: Age 50, height 6'0". Is the owner of the garage that Yang used to park her bike. Helped her fix up her bike after it got wrecked off screen in the second volume. Brother of Sharpshooter Hazel. Not much else.

Vale First Division, 1th Squad: This eight man squad, the fore front of any attack, is a reference to 'The Big Red One', the company of American soldiers in World War 2 who were the front offensive against the Nazis and bore a literal big red one on their shoulders signifying their division. You guys should watch the movie, it's pretty good. In the world of RWBY, I imagine anyone who would sign up to be the first line of offense would have to have a sense of insanity similar to that of Huntsmen and Huntresses in training, just without the training to quite back it up. Most of them have though unlocked their auras. For their equipment, imagine Halo marines in black and dark gray with plenty of battle marks. Oh, and yes, they were the ones who discovered and reported the White Fang Hideout.

Sharpshooter Hazel: Age 48, height 6'5". Leader of the squad, uses a heavy sniper rifle, a pistol, and a shovel. Team dad. Shovels were used in WW1 in trench warfare as weapons, for those who didn't know.

Combat Medic Kringle: Age 55, height 6'3". Medic, his healing nature is in reference to Santa Claus along with his white hair, although short and military style.

Heavy Rifleman Samson: Age 34, height 6'7". A goofy and large man, Samson now uses the new hulking 25 mm canon talked about between Ruby and Jaune in the chapter 'Up and Down, Back and Forth', a weapon to complement his Biblical reference to Samson, whom had super strength gifted from God as long as he kept his long hair. In universe, our soldier Samson is named after Samson the Reclaimer, whom saved Vacuo from a legendary invasion of Death-stalkers similar to how real life Samson supposedly defeated an army of philistines whom had the clear intention of invading. 

Rifleman Higgins: Age 19, height 6'1". Not much to say. In case you're curious, he uses a battle rifle and a shotgun with a machete at his side. He's goofy.

Rifleman Remarque: Age 20, height 5'11". Erich Maria Remarque was a real life german soldier who fought in WW1, and he wrote the book 'All Quiet on the Western Front.' For those of you who read the book, you are free to make assumptions, just don't spoil it for other readers. Remarque is stoic.

Rifleman Wash: Age 25, height 6'2". He is the resident pilot and driver of the squad, which calls to the character Wash from Firefly.

Assault Patic: Age 24, height 6'3". Patic is close to both Patton and Panic, Patton being the American General who lead the charge against the Nazis in again, WW2. He was one violent son of a gun. Assault Patic is deceased as of the Raid on the White Fang hideout.

Assault Cage: Age 20, height 6'1". Killed by Emerald and Sham Rock in the first division's attempt to find the White Fang Hideout.

Vale First Division, 2nd Squad: They're very much like their 1st Squad counterparts, except they follow into combat right after. Instead of Halo marines, imagine Halo ODSTs but instead of their regular helmets, look up Isaac Clarke's helmet, now picture it slimmer and black, and with personalized chalk drawings on each of them. 2nd Squad's explicit job is to go into combat from the air while combat is already in full swing or anticipated, in comparison to 1st squad whom starts the fights.

Lucifer: No, he's not the devil, or at least from what we've seen of him you have no reason to believe that other than the fact that he likes the song by the Rolling Stones. I'm serious, don't think he's the devil just because of that, I mean, I like the song alot, that's why I used it, so... And no, that's not his name.

Anyone I didn't mention was on purpose, and I have no comments on them.


	10. Rain != Sad

With two weeks left until representatives from Beacon are scheduled to leave for Atlas where the next Vytal Festival takes place, bounties had been made available to second years and up for the various reasons like practice, ease on tuition, and as a courtesy towards the military whom were tasked with stepping up the fight against Grimm while the students are away. One such bounty was a fifty thousand lien prize on a Alpha Beowulf which had spent the last month terrorizing farmlands to the south of Vale, garnering a following of it's lesser brethren in the process. In the midst of a heavy rain signaling the end of autumn, in three inches of mud and puddles in an open field with lightning in the distance, team RWBY minus Weiss was the first to track down the rather large beasty to claim the prize.  
Yang wanting to add drama to the already intense backdrop for the fight dared Blake to take on the Alpha Grimm by her lonesome while she and Ruby took care of the minions following him. Blake sized herself up against the monster and figured that it was about four times her height and much stronger, and agreed to the challenge.  
Ruby and Yang stepped back away from Blake to give her room, both pulling the wet hair from their faces to get a better look of the ensuing fight. Between the blue dim light and the white and black of both Blake and the beast, they found it easy to lose track of their teammate as she danced around it's legs and behind it's spiky back. Regular Beowolfs charged at the two sisters, but saying they weren't a match for the Huntresses would be an understatement.  
What was a match though for the sisters was simple physics and hydraulics. Going semi-automatic, Ruby threw out bullets at the black masses without much thought, water soaking deep into everything on their persons including inside their guns. Finally, once a critical amount of water built up inside Ruby's Crescent Rose behind the receiver, the heavy steel contraption bounced off the buffer too soon and failed to eject it's spent bullet casing. The next bullet, it's rear loading as it should but it's front end still pinned down by the jammed shell, fired off on cue with the primer striking it's cap at an angle. What Yang and Ruby saw from their perspectives was Ruby's clip blowing out from the bottom followed by Ruby dropping her scythe with a genuinely surprised and freaked out expression, hands in the air and frozen.

Yang saw Ruby's face and instantly the corners of her own mouth reached her ears, and looking back and forth between her sister and the scythe she said "Oh? Oh? Ohhhhhhhh? Okay?" Ruby dropped her arms and started walking away, her sister reaching out and laughing as she said "Oh! Ruby don't leave... Ruby don't leave... RUUUUUBYYYY! I LOVE YOU!" the brawler cried out to the dark clouds, not missing a chance to imitate the cheasy movies she saw as a kid. 

Weaving around a Beowulf, the younger of the two turned and pointed to nowhere in particular, speaking tersely "NO! I'm fucking done! I'm FUCKING DONE!" Anger and rose pedals emanated from Ruby, the pedals quickly disappearing into the brown muck they stood in.

"No you're not-" Yang grinned, ridding the Grimm as she spoke before falling to her knees, struggling to breath and fight and laugh uncontrollably at the same time.

"THIS IS BULLSHIT! THIS IS FUCKING BULLSHIT!" Ruby shouted, waving her arms furiously and pointing at her gun as if it was the source of all that was wrong in their world.

"I can't get up" Yang wheezed.

"WHAT IS THIS!?"

"I can't get up!-"

"WHAT IS THIS!?" she repeated.

"My chest!" Yang was crying now, holding her sides in an attempt to breath.

Ruby pulled at her hair, shouting even more "WHAT IS MY LIFE!?" She took a moment to close her eyes and sigh, continuing where she left off "I can't do it Yang!" 

"I can't either!" she said in regards to taking the moment seriously. Ruby's unbridled and spontaneous anger which devolved her into hysterical swearing was enjoyable to a great degree. 

"I can't fucking do it anymore!" Ruby was in Yang's face now.

To counter, Yang grabbed Ruby in even closer by her collar, passionately remarking "I can tell you what Ruby! You can give up now, or you can try again, because your gun can't do it on it's own, and you certainly can't do it without her!" She then grabbed the scythe from the mud and shoved it into Ruby's arms. Yang held back a piggish snort.

"I appreciate it... but look at what I'm dealing with man!" Ruby flashed the broken magazine, and in the process cleared out the space as the clip crumbled into strips of metal and fell out. Black soot could be seen washing over the red paint, disappearing once it hit the black carbon coating.

"Ruby!-" Yang giggled.

"You gotta draw a line somewhere!-" 

"Ruby!-"

"You gotta draw a fucking line in the sand Yang!" Ruby shouted while literally carving a line in the mud with the spear end of her implement.

"Ru-" Yang rolled in the mud, not caring that she was absolutely soaked through and dirty.

"You gotta make a statement!" Ruby set her gun to bolt action, "You gotta look inside yourself and say..." then she pulled back the bolt, launching the crushed shell out, "'what am I willing to put up with today?'" then she slammed a new clip and slammed the bolt forward, "NOT FUCKING THIS!" and as she screamed as such, her finger twitched and both of them flinched as a round fired off in tandem with the sound of thunder.

"What are you two yelling about!?" Blake shouted. She stood atop the alpha, it's legs tripped up and tangled in her ribbon and her sword implanted in it's skull. It twitched mildly as she took a picture with her scroll to confirm the kill.

Yang stood up, wiping the snot that started to come from her nose. "Oh nothing," she giggled, "we were just having a beautiful little moment." She threw a wink to her sister whom was covering her mouth to hide a small smile, Ruby rolling her eyes in return.

Blake pulled her slick black hair from her face and looked around searching. "Do you remember where we parked the jeep?" 

An hour later and leaving mud tracks all over Beacon's primary garage, the three girls clamored into their dorm where they found Weiss doing homework. They greeted her softly, greatly contrasting the ruckus they were causing in stripping their clothes off the moment the door closed. Soggy and dripping shoes were kicked into the wall, wet socks and an assortment of moist clothing were thrown into the hamper, and weapons were thrown onto a towel spread out on Ruby's bed. Yang being the dirtiest what with the mud all over her, stripped down almost entirely and jumped into the shower while Blake put on old clothes to take the basket of dirty clothing to the laundry room on their floor of the dorm. Ruby however, Ruby had plans already.

Feeling somewhere between mischievous, jocular, and fiendish, Ruby removed her hood and stockings, and peeled the top half of her black top off and over her waist, leaving her essentially topless save for her bra. "Weiss," she grinned, "time to get your measurements!"

Weiss sighed quietly. "Why are you half naked?" she asked wearily.

"I'm wet Weiss," Ruby said, immediately feeling embarrassed for saying something like that unintentionally, but went on to say "I don't want to get all prune-y, gotta dry off" she smiled. "Well then, come on, ge' up" Ruby ordered, waving her hands up and towards her.

"I told you," Weiss started, "I don't need armor..." She took to waiting in the center of the room, Ruby rummaging through a cardboard box trying to find a tape measure.

"I told you," Ruby contradicted, "this will help alot... now, take off your dress." 

Weiss blushed and glared at her approaching partner. "I don't need to strip for some simple measure-" she coughed, "-some simple measurements." She clutched tightly to her pajamas.

Ruby raised her single brow slyly, asking "but what about complicated measurements? This is going to be a real slick design Weiss, please, let the master work..." She stepped behind the other girl, unraveling her white nylon tape.

Weiss complied with a sigh and a blush. "I swear, in just one year you turned out just like your sister. So vulgar..."

Slowly taking off the night gown to avoid opening her stitches, Weiss stood in the center of the cool room in nothing but her underwear and a bandage wrap around her chest. At first Ruby felt great pleasure at Weiss's embarrassment and discomfort, but once the sight of fresh wounds still bleeding and scars of ages old sunk in, Ruby felt shame.

"Thank you" the girl in red muttered, stretching out the tape and wrapping it around the other's waist.

Weiss shuttered, Ruby's finger tips still wet and cold from the outside. Out of the team, or for that matter most of the school, Weiss had the best inherent cold tolerance, but the sensation of chilled fingernails tracing her white skin excited her to her chagrin. Her spine curved inwards, and her breaths shortened and occasionally interrupted by a short cough, but while she tried to hide her red face, Ruby was deep in thought as she typed in numbers into her scroll.  
Ruby pondered the marks on Weiss's entire body, intrigued and worried. Someone like her or Yang, whom both had apparently a high aura regeneration and capacity to match their weight according to Glynda's class wide aura tests, healed relatively quickly, never got sick, and scars were infrequent. Someone like Jaune who Glynda announced with surprise to be high in both categories was a picture of health. On the other hand, in both columns Weiss tested less than average for a Huntress of her caliber and skill, but still had normal numbers as a person. Thus it confused Ruby to count the scars and discolorations of skin that Weiss had done a relatively good job of hiding from them underneath her clothing. There shouldn't have been so many.  
Feeling it got too quiet in the room and wanting to hide her concern, Ruby dragged the tape across Weiss's small breast teasingly, catching a satisfying jerk from the older of the girls. She wanted to touch the lines of malformed tissue instead, trace the wounds of past memories, even ask about them, but sharing one's scars with another hunter was an intimate act that Ruby didn't want to cross into, deciding before hand to keep a light air around her partner.

"The new blade you forged for Myrtenaster," Weiss whispered, scaring Ruby and pulling her from her thoughts, "it's longer than the old one."

"Yeah, uh, I accidentally added a couple inches, but Mr. Crauch balanced it out with a heavier pummel, so it should still be good." 

Weiss gave a confused look. "How do you accidentally add a few inches? Didn't you-"

"It's still full tang, I just started out with a larger rod than I realized, novice mistake, and as I finished hammering out the end, I realized it was a little long. There's a tungsten cap on the handle end though, so it's center of gravity is still half way in between the ends of the dust chamber guard, as per it's original design." Ruby patted her shoulder to sign she was done.

"It's like you want to slow me down or something. Armor... pfft."

Ruby grabbed papers from her bed along with her Crescent Rose. "You know they offer a seventh period weight training for students who are willing, right? It's supposed to be good for straight increases to strength. Aura and skill can get you pretty far, but the little things always help; in fact, me and Yang were considering taking it, and I hear Pyrrha convinced Jaune to start taking it..." she trailed off as she walked out the door, closing it behind her as she headed off for the forge. A moment later she returned flustered, forgetting to re-clothe herself.

"I'm pretty sure you only considered taking the class because Jaune was in it" Weiss snarked.

"Yeah yeah, whatever..." her partner dismissed, walking back out this time with her top back on. Replacing Ruby was Nora.

"Is Yang back?" the ginger asked a still mostly naked Weiss.

"Knock first, okay!?" Weiss whispered, her new lung still not strong enough to draw too much air in to allow deep breaths or shouts. She yanked her bed sheets to cover herself with little haste.

"Sorry, I-" at that moment, Yang walked out of the bathroom in her pajamas, done with her shower, "ah! Hey Yang, wanna give Jaune a hair cut?" Nora asked with mirth.

Eyes flickering side to side for a second in consideration, Yang nodded 'yes'. "Yeah, I'll be over in a minute, I just gotta grab something real quick."

"Okay. You can hang out with us while she does that Weiss, so you know, you won't be all alone over here."

Weiss appreciated the gesture. She smiled, but turned down the offer. "I'm sorry, it's just that this botany homework is kinda long winded..."

Nora nodded in understanding for a moment before looking back at Weiss in suspicion. "Wait, if you're having trouble, how is the rest of your team doing it?"

Weiss shrugged and rolled her eyes simultaneously, "they all decided to not do it. They're taking the F's."

"Oh, well, if you change your mind, we'll be over here, okay?" Nora offered once more. This level of care was atypical of her, but not unheard of. Weiss was touched this was one of the moments where it showed.

Saying bye, Nora closed the door as she crept out of the doorway, re-entering her own room. Jaune sat in their sole chair in the center of the room, a towel wrapped around his bare top and a book on inter kingdom politics in his lap. He rubbed his temples in drowsiness, exclaiming "I can't wait till tomorrow. No more homework until after the festival."

Pyrrha sat criss cross on her bed near Jaune, completely done with all her work. "I don't disagree" she said while running a small and thin whetstone along her diphos' edge.

The door to their dorm open and inviting, Yang and Blake wandered in without much care for permission. Yang held in her arms a basket of soaps and bottles, along with scissors and razors, while Blake held a small cup of ice cream. 

"So how do we want our hair today good sir?" Yang asked Jaune, messing up his hair with her hands.

"Shorter?" he weakly said, looking for advice from his friends in his answer.

Yang looked to Pyrrha. "How about a military cut?" Without wasting time, Yang stood behind the other blonde and lathered white foam onto his face, fully intent on ridding the quarter inch stubble that had grown.

"Not that short; it's going to be cold in Atlas" answered Ren. He pulled the lever on the press, squeezing the dust infused bullet into it's casing. The little bullet fell out of the contraption straight into his hand, from where it was placed inside a paper box along with it's fellow bullets.

Blake's face contorted, eyeing the ice cream with unease. "You're right Yang, salted caramel is... it's just too salty." She gave the ice cream to Nora, figuring the valkyrie might tough through the taste.

"Just make sure the bangs fall just above my eyes."

"Yeah, I see that you've been chewing on the ends..." Yang observed out loud, fondling the split hairs in between her fingers.

Ssssssshhhrk! Pyrrha ran the gray stone along her blade in a steady rhythm, speeding up just at the end. "Where did you get the ice cream?"

Yang grabbed a bottle of clean water and sprayed down the blond boy's mop of hair. Running a comb through it, she answered playfully "I borrowed it from the freshman down the hall. They were smart enough to install a fridge in their dorm room." She smiled, pleased with herself.

Ssssssshhhrk! "And by borrow you mean they don't know it's gone and won't know until one of them looks for it?" Pyrrha asked. 

"Essentially. Hey, Jaune honey, you're going to have to relax. Your aura isn't letting me cut..." Yang said. She put the scissors up to the light, confirming several dents in the metal where Jaune's hair once was. 

"Sorry." Jaune took a deep breath and lowered his shoulders, giving up on reading his assigned reading altogether. A shiver ran down his spine and he told Yang to try again. The hair was cut this time. "Say, I didn't see Sun or Neptune in any of our classes today, do you know where they went?" he asked Blake in particular.

"Don't you know? Their team left for Vacuo today."

"Here you go Ren, good luck..." Nora said in between the smacking of her lips. Her face too was contorted and sour. Ren took the ice cream from his partner, but seeing a pattern, decided against eating it.

"Why'd they leave?" Jaune asked surprised.

"Atlas is very persnickety about who participates and represents who in the tournament, so team SSSN is being sent to Vacuo to be with their original headmaster for the duration of the tournament, where they'll be one of the three teams of Vacuo's second years to fight." Yang happily snipped away at the hair, the golden locks drifting slowly to the ground like feathers.

"Wait," Blake started, "is that... wait... how does... is their tournament any different from ours?" she finally asked. It didn't come to much of a surprise to the others that Blake didn't know about these tournaments to any length, seeing how she never really sat in front of a TV in any point in her life.

Ssssssshhhrk! "It's pretty different," said Pyrrha. "In Atlas, it's probably the strictest of the kingdoms. The matches are all team based, and each team fights once per day. They start off with the first years and work their way up. Whoever has the most teams left standing in the end wins." Ssssssshhhrk! "In Vacuo, it couldn't get less strict, they throw everyone of a similar skill level and weapon load-out into a gladiatorial pit and fight to the last person standing, they don't even have to be associated with a school, and from there a bracket is made to the last person once again." Ssssssshhhrk! "In Mistral, you form your own teams and face off against multiple other teams, except the arena is a large forest of dead trees, with spectators watching from airships." Ssssssshhhrk!

"The only consistency is that it takes around a week to do," Jaune continued. "Vale, for all it's worth, probably has the lamest system, but it has it's perks."

"Yeah?" asked Blake, hoping for more.

"Well each kingdom is different like that," Jaune said. 

"Vacuo focuses on the individual's strength..." Nora inputed.

Ssssssshhhrk! "Mistral requires cunning and connections..."

Another bullet dropped into Ren's hand. "Atlas depends on teamwork and likes it's representation..."

Jaune blew a lock of hair out of his face. "And Vale falls somewhere in the middle..."

"How much of your beard do you want left? Or do you want it all-"

"Gone, definitely." 

Yang grabbed her razor and dragged it across his face, clearing swathes of hair in the process. "I see, so Pyrrha doesn't like the scratchy feel against her thighs, does she?" The razor stopped cutting through the hair again.

Across the hall, Weiss raised a brow in curiosity to the clamoring and racket coming from team JNPR's room, but thought it was best to stay clear of the commotion to avoid getting shot again. Down the hall, a freshman Huntress outfitted in straight black opened her fridge and stood in confusion as to why all of her ice cream was missing. On the floor above them, team CRDL had a study party with another second year group, but lost all concentration when a bullet pierced through the floor and shattered Robin Pine's pink lamp with flowers on it. Across the hall from them, team BNSH collectively woke from their mid day naps from hunting, and all stumbling out of beds like drunk cats brandished their weapons towards their door, dazed and bewildered. The floor above them, on the puddly roof, a fourth year girl lit a candle on a shrine devoted to Fox, crying. And down below and a ways away, Ruby and Gorm Crauch smelted down scrap aluminum gifted from Nora, sharing experiences about failed workshop experiences and laughing at their younger selves. And even farther away, team SSSN all laid asleep aboard an airship, their coach class accommodations more than enough to relax about in.

Laying on his back, Ren looked up through the rain to the window of which he was ejected from, glass underneath him. "Better call Glynda. Don't want it to wet inside..."

-End Chapter 10-

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, for those of you who didn't catch the joke at the beginning, Ruby and Yang were imitating 'a beautiful little moment' from the Game grumps on youtube. While I don't like referencing things like that too much, I thought it would be fine if it was only this once, so, sorry about that, I just had too. Also, whose had the experience of needing to leave a room after hearing someone say something so provoking that you're sure a fight's gonna break out?


	11. Peculiar Optimism

She was dead.

Weiss laid on the operating table, no pulse, no breath, cold white skin without blood, white light reflecting off her dead blue irises. Her chest was opened up on one side, her old lung halfway out and a new one getting shoved back in crudely. A boy pressed his palm against her one good lung and pumped repeatedly while another doctor wheeled carts full of machinery. For twenty minutes, she laid there, not alive, but wasn't allowed to slip away past the point of no return. Still open, someone applied a electro shock to her chest, someone else pumped in adrenaline, someone else put on an oxygen mask. 

She woke up.

She screamed, and she clawed at her chest. Her arms and legs were buckled to the table. She felt cold. So cold. Yet she burned in pain. 

She held her hand against the light.

It was bright, it was warm, and she was happy. A doctor stood there before her waiting for her to come to, patiently holding a clip board and a proud smile. Looking around, Weiss realized she was laying in a poofy white hospital bed. She wanted to giggle, but the oxygen mask controlled her breathing.

"Morning," the man said. Weiss nodded her head. "What's the last thing you can remember?" he asked.

She lifted the mask off, taking pauses in between words to draw in more air. In a wheezy and weak voice, she told him, "fighting... is everyone... okay?"

He told her that everyone was fine, to which she relaxed and remarked 'good' in relief. She felt the need to giggle again, which lead her to coughing mildly, scaring her just a little. The doctor described her condition, revealing that she was on both painkillers and happy pills, and that she would have to be for at least a day to get through the initial stages after surgery.

"What... surgery...?" she coughed.

Weiss was told all the details of her death and revival, how they almost called her in, but some young man said he knew her, so he kept trying and eventually they got through it. Be it the happy pills, be it some hidden optimism Weiss keeps locked away, be it joy to be alive, Weiss cried tears of joy. The doctor asked why she cried. She told him she didn't know why. 

"Just don't... let... the oth... ers know... it would... worry... them..." She stared out the window for a moment, then turned back to the doctor. "Who... was... the... 'young... man'?"

"Some temporary surgeon from the military..."

Yang cried when she was let in, and she didn't leave Weiss's side for the first week of her hospital stay. When Ruby and Blake showed up, Weiss felt nothing but love and glee at seeing the rest of her closest friends. But something that was sticking out in her mind was her sword. Myrtenaster needed to be fixed. Ruby knew what to do. Later, a few words were spoken about the costs, of which Weiss signed a contract to. She'd take debt over death any day. Once the pain of moving became so less severe than it was originally without aid from medication, Weiss left the hospital.

"Weiss?" Blake whispered.

"Sorry what?" She was pulled from her thoughts, brought back to current times in the courtyard, the sun trying hard to beat through the cloud coverage. 

"Could you turn your head a little to the left?" Blake asked, hidden behind her easel and canvas, painting.

"Yeah, sure..." her head turned. The duelist' derriere was starting to ache from sitting so long on the fountain's stone ledge, but it was a small complaint. She could also tell that the apple in her hand was starting to get soft and bruised.

She contemplated. Being a Huntsmen or Huntress was a inherently dangerous job, but everyone knew that there was different degrees to that danger. Some people can go their entire career killing Grim, and never get a scratch on them, though those people are far and few between. Most get injured when they take on something leagues above themselves, but make it out because they have teammates to carry them; thats why the kingdom's warriors work as such. Some die, some get unlucky, but all of that's for the regular crowds of fighters. The good one's are different, they almost always come out on top, and as such gain popularity and fame.  
Weiss didn't like bragging too much, but she considered her and her friends above the average, but then it begs the question: what were they doing wrong? She quickly came to an answer.  
They spent more time fighting other people than Grimm, it was simple. Who thought that signing up to be protectors of the world against the forces of darkness entitled so much infighting. Pyrrha, Blake, Weiss, Ruby, Yang, even Jaune were all hospitalized not to Grimm, but to other people.  
Another thought, embarrassment actually. Weiss felt a kernel of shame, as she as so far has the record for worst injury yet. The others still didn't know about her passing, but she had failed worst more than the others ever did. At least it didn't change much between her and her friends though, she thought. Unlike the others, she couldn't remember the worst of it, unlike Ruby, unlike Pyrrha, hell, Yang was completely conscious for all of her's. It had an advantage though, she thought again. Instead of misery, Weiss felt she had a new lease on life, and her friends continuously made efforts to keep her involved to feel... good would be the best word.  
As long as they didn't know the worst of it, Weiss thought, they won't make a big deal over it.  
Ruby had that problem.  
They all saw what happened to her, saw her live through the pain, and most everyone backed away, and tiptoed around her. She needed normalcy, but was given stifled whispers and concerned looks. It made her angry.  
Weiss felt lucky, she could hide her injury, poor Ruby, her friends took care of her, and now with training before leaving for Atlas, a normal rhythm could be had again.

She coughed. "Sorry," she told Blake.

Training after some hobbies of course. 

"So how's things with Neptune?" Blake lazily asked her current model. It was a question she had actually been wanting to ask, but had waited on it for the right moment.

"..."

"That bad?"

"He's insufferable. He thinks he's cool, he's not. He thinks he's smart, he's not. He think's he's this or that, guess what? He's not..."

"That's... a bit harsh, don't you think?" Blake asked hopefully.

"Maybe so, but either way, I don't like, rather, I hate him." She coughed, she hadn't spoken out loud so passionately for quite a while now.

"Okay..." the darker of the two girls didn't see an easy way to change her teammate's mind, knowing full well that no short conversation she could give would overcome Weiss's stubbornness. But still, a thought lingered....

A corner of Blake's mouth inched upwards, "then who are you going to ask to the masquerade?" 

"The one in Atlas? Uh... well if Ruby can't convinced Jaune to go with her, than as a friend, I'll help Ruby out and go with her..." Weiss used all of her physical willpower to maintain a straight, plain face, betraying no emotion. It didn't matter though, as Blake didn't need to see her face to get a proper read.

"Jokes on you," said a familiar voice approaching. It was, to neither of the girl's surprise, Yang. "Ozpin's requested that you sing at the masquerade, so I don't imagine you'll get too much time doing whatever you want to do..." she folded her arms, but her face didn't seem too pleased, this time, a surprise to the girls.

"What's going on" Blake asked, intrigued by Yang's lack of joy at the expense of her friends.

Yang rolled her eyes. "Ozpin's given us and JNPR secret missions to accomplish the night of the masquerade."

"Is he daft!?" Weiss started to shout, but finished with a strong combo of coughs.

"Yeah really!" Blake helped out, "Weiss can't sing, and why does he always make us do his dirty work?"

Yang gave a long sigh. She seemed very annoyed. "Because apparently we're the only ones who can do it..."

Blake resisted the urge to smear her painting of Weiss to and fro, instead settling for kicking her stool away. The wooden piece of furniture bounced along the ground, finding a resting spot somewhere in the far away bushes and shrubbery. "One of us is going to get hurt again!"

"Maybe, maybe not," entered Ruby. "It all depends on how well you, Blake, specifically function. I've gotten the full mission plans, and have been informed on how the other teams are playing into this, and when the time comes, I debrief you. But for now, we train." She turned back around and walked away, her commanding presence and solid voice impressing her team, but destroyed the built image when she turned right back and around and added, while flustered, "and make sure your masks and outfits are really pretty, it's important Ozpin said..." and walked away again.

A long moment passed, each of the three girls looking at each other, not lost for words but just disappointed. Except Weiss. She finally managed to give a yell for the first time in weeks.

"But how am I supposed TO SING!?" at least, she managed to yell before breaking back down into coughs and wheezes.

-End Chapter 11-


	12. By the Way...

9:59 am. Nothing.  
10:00 am. Penny's eyes opened, her sleep cycle completed.  
Her sensors told her that the room was cold by human standards, but she had no way of mechanically noticing it as it was. Sitting up, she reached behind her back and expertly pulled the wires out from inside her sword pack, or rather, her chest cavity. She was not looking forward to today.  
Lifting herself off of the stainless steel work table, the android girl made her way through the white lab to the entrance, where she punched in her code into the number pad for the blast door. The screen above the number keys read 'permission granted', and the two heavily armored doors separated to allow her out. As promised, waiting just outside the door was her father's assistant, Mr. Rogi, who had told Penny about the meeting she was to have this day.  
The middle aged man, somber in nature and with gray hairs already, spoke nothing to Penny. He lead her through the well familiar complex of white hallways and workshops to a board room just below the surface level, which would be the closest she had been to the outside in a couple months. Inside the board room were three other individuals. Mr. Rogi introduced them to her, and visa versa.

"Penny, this is Jack Vorst, you know him. That's Phoenix Lynn, I'll explain more in a moment, and that's Donnie Orzabal, I'll explain in a moment. This will be your team..." the man said, his lack of enthusiasm matching Penny's.

Jack Vorst was no different to how Penny remembered him, which bothered her. She still remembered how he and Ruby fought, and while Ruby won and gravely injured Jack, Penny knew she had good reason to. She didn't trust the boy, as something was off about him. That isn't even including how Jack constantly demeaned her subtly, making it clear he didn't consider her as a true person. What bothered Penny most about the things he said like were that she felt he was partially right.  
To his left sat Phoenix Lynn, whom seemed relatively normal. She was a girl of an average height with thin, pale, and chiseled features, almost tomboyish, wrapped heavily in white clothes befitting the northern winters which contrasted greatly with her golden eyes and flaming red hair. Penny liked her hair, as it was long and had a single braid run through it, but she kept it bundled behind her head with the ends sticking out just above her head like a tuft of wild grass, and a perfectly straight lock of her bangs remained unbounded and sat just to the side of her eye and out of the way. Penny wondered if the girl had to have someone do her hair every single day, and how long it must've take to make, as it was something she only saw models or celebrities possibly doing on a regular basis.  
Sitting to her left was Donnie. At first she didn't notice it, but it quickly became apparent that he was not normal at all. He sat in a weird way, his foot repeatedly tapped the floor in a panicked manner, and his head lightly bobbed left to right, his blue eyes constantly wondering. Consulting a medical book she had downloaded, Penny determined that he must've either been insane, or had a disorder, though she didn't have the means or experience to differentiate the two like a normal people would. Looking past his behavior however, he was the opposite of Jack in build, seeming to be on the verge of starving with hollow cheeks and lanky limbs, possibly due to a extreme metabolism. His black hair was shaggy and like straw, but everything else about him seemed clean.

"When you say team, you mean as in the ones I will be fighting with in the tournament against other fighters?" she asked, done with examining the three people.

"Yes" the assistant muttered.

"I do not want to fight..." Penny innocently said, hoping everyone would understand. "Some of my friends are in the tournament, and I do not want to hurt anyone again."

Phoenix sat confused while Jack was visibly annoyed. Donnie didn't seem to care. The older man sighed and rubbed his brow. "I know Penny, I know. But it's all been planned out already, and your father and Ironwood need to demonstrate your skills to the public. Last year was a good start, this year we can prove your ability to work with others, then next year we can make the big reveal and push to start mass producing...."

"But my father is missing, shouldn't we focus on finding him?" she asked, her voice sounding as upset as she was physically capable of.

Mr. Rogi stepped forward to put himself equally distant between Penny and the others, fatigue showing in his movement. "The military is already on the search, which is irrelevant to your tasks. We have clear instructions, and once your father is found, he'll be pleased to see we fulfilled his wishes. Now, as for your friends, you must realize by now that their line of work pits them against each other regularly just for practice, so you can't take it personally or worry about it. So, will you introduce yourself now?"

Penny lowered her head in despondency. "Yes sir. I understand sir." She looked up to the three individuals and greeted them, "hello, my name is Penny..." 

"I swear in the name of everything that is held sacred, the day that Ms. Scarlatina can tell the difference between the Faunus War and the Great War is the day that I give up coffee!" exclaimed Professor Oobleck with much anger and emphasis. He and the other teachers of Beacon sat in a circle inside one of the second floor classrooms, grading the flood of homework that had just been turned in the day before the twelve teams leave for Atlas.

"Aw, but she's such a sweet girl..." Professor Peach said sadly. He always got along with team CVFY.

"Yes, that may be true, but after four years in Beacon, she is only now at the second year level of history!" Oobleck spat back rapidly, taking another sip of his black caffeine.

"Ha ha, you think that's bad? Mr. Thrush still thinks the plural for Beowolf is 'Beowolfs' with an 'f'" Port remarked, marking another misspelling on Russel's paper. They all chuckled.

That is, except for Glynda. She unlike the others sat by the window, watching the students down below practice their skills. It was the first sunny day they've had in a while, and the teams weren't going to let it pass them up. She casually thought out loud, not particularly concentrated and uncharacteristically dazed in her manner. "What does it matter though?" she asked, slowly. "What does it matter if a child soldier can tell the difference between abscess root and fenugreek? Does their inability to place the date of birth of the forerunner on mechashift weaponry, Vishnu the Smith, make them less effective at putting a 500 grain hunk of lead through the eye socket of a Deathstalker at 30 feet?"

The others went silent. It wasn't uncommon for a teacher to go through phases where they questioned their job, and the others could understand where Glynda's mind was going. Unlike the others, Glynda was the one directly responsible for the training of the single most important skill a Huntsmen or Huntress attended Beacon to learn; to fight. She was in charge of setting up duels to broaden the students experiences and techniques, she was in charge of teaching them the intricacies of aura use and semblance expertise, she was in charge of making them harder to kill. As such, the others could only imagine the burden Glynda carried everyday, as every student's death now or in the future is related to how well she taught them.

However, instead of arguing with her, or philosophizing ethics with her, Port and Oobleck knew what could take her mind out from it's current dark place. They put down their graded papers and looked out the window with her, and seeing the students fighting, Port was the one to ask "how do you think they'll do in the tournament?"

Glynda waited to answer, deciding to watch the outcome of the fight between Yang and team BNSH's leader, Ben Biscotti. They hadn't started yet, par for the course when it came to Ben, but rather stared each other down, fist raised. Ben had a habit of driving fear into his opponents, something about his patient and blank face that translated into intense concentration and focus, and usually got the advantage in the beginning of a fight. Other students speculated that he might be telepathic or can see into the future as his semblance, his ability to dominate at the start of a fight being the evidence. But he had a weakness; a weak endgame. Another strength though was his ability to occupy opponents in a team match, but alone against Yang, everyone already knew the outcome.  
Yang attacked first, as Ben never did in any witnessed fights, and he promptly stepped past her punch and decked her in the face. She raised her knee, but he scooted just enough out of the way to avoid it entirely, decking her again. She went for a grapple, but he ducked and tackled her. She kicked, but he grabbed her foot and threw it to the side, spinning her in place and allowing him to kick her in the head as it came around. She rolled back into a standing position, where then she went wild attacking Ben. He initially blocked and parried the attacks as they came and countered right back, but as time passed, he began sweating and tiring out, eventually making mistakes and missing blows. Yang, now super strong from the damage she had taken, got the one good hit on him in the gut, sending him straight up fifteen feet before falling unconscious on the grass. 

Glynda finally answered. "Well, to compare them to the model of rock, paper, scissors, the second years aren't too complicated and almost consistently fall in place. Yang, Nora, and Sandell are rock, and they all hit like trains at the cost of some form of agility. Scissors would be Jaune, Pyrrha, and Ben, who balance offensive and defensive abilities and can counter other fighters except for the heavy hitters, of whom overwhelm them with straight power. Ruby, Blake, Ren, and the girls of BNSH are paper. They are quick, light on their feet, win at range, and are too fast for the heavy hitters to hit, but are countered by the defensive fighters who negate their distance advantage."

"What about Ms. Schnee?" Oobleck asked.

"She doesn't fit into the model. Her position changes depending on not only who she's fighting, but how willing she is to use her dust. She can be like a dancer, she can be like a sorceress, she can be like a bolt of lightning or the strike of a hammer, or she can be a brick wall."

Port was intrigued by Glynda's analysis. "How do you figure all of this?"

"Where do you want me to start?" she asked, perfectly willing to explain her theory.

"How about team RWBY" Oobleck asked. He knew them well, so why not?

"I'll try and keep it brief. Ruby is by far the fastest, and she fights using a high functioning understanding of physics and momentum, and is capable of overwhelming her opponents through a fierce barrage of attacks that come from all angles in quick succession. She suffers from her style of attack however. While being parried is not a concern for her, as she can work another attack out of it, a well placed block cuts her momentum down to zero, forcing her to retreat and restart, which would tire a regular fighter out. Plus, her attacks are wildly different in nature, her normal attacks being somewhat dangerous and intimidating but blockable, while the second half of her attack style can't be used in friendly combat at all. It's too dangerous, and is as likely to cut her foe in half as it is to just hurt them, severely limiting her potential. Everything she does needs to be extreme. Weiss as mentioned is very versatile. She's delicate, but she has multiple forms of everything from methods of defense to attack, but is too like Ruby kept from reaching full potential in regular combat. She uses this white dust and scarlet dust, of which can only be used with the intention to kill and while bloodied respectively. Her weak points are the lightness of her weapon, herself, and her threshold for abuse, forcing her to tip toe in battle essentially. Like Ruby though, she can use speed in addition to a myriad of attacks to keep her opponent at a disadvantage. Fighting Blake is like fighting two people and has the stamina to match, and on top of her attacks being quick and rapid like the first two, they also don't follow regular conventions of swordplay. She projects either her aura or its apart of her semblance, we don't quite know which one yet, she projects from her swords and often adds a couple feet to her strikes when she needs to, and uses her momentary shadow clones to hide her attacks and confuse her opponent. Like the other two, she's very good at getting behind her foe and attacking from there, but unlike the other two, her ranged style doesn't rely on ammunition to nearly the same degree, and can last longer in that sense. Yang breaks the agile trend of the rest of her team, and while not dead in the water, her style is much slower paced and easy to follow. Yang is simplicity itself, with even her semblance being a passive modifier to her hits. And therein lies the problem, she's easy to counter if one has the speed. I've noticed that in her free time, she walks around with a blind fold and ear plugs in an attempt to strengthen her aura's inherent senses in hopes to counter her inability to combat fighters like her sister. I believe in time she will find some success in that endeavor, but it's no instant gratification."

"Sounds about right" they said in agreement, having came to the same conclusion. "What about JNPR?"

"Jaune is funny, I can't lie. He doesn't have confidence in his abilities, but what he doesn't realize is that the time he's put in practicing with Pyrrha and in class exceeds everyone else's, and is quite formidable compared to his bumbling self last year. His strength lies in his ability to frustrate and outlast any opponent who can't get past his shield, and while we still don't know the true nature of his semblance, we occasionally see it act up and surprise us. What makes him even more dangerous is his natural strength augmented by his aura combined with his swordplay skills that he's developed with Pyrrha from fighting every single day, putting any bladed foe in peril of being disarmed. He is also on the verge of incorporating aura projected attacks into his pattern I've noticed. Pyrrha is the offensive side of the shielded coin, utilizing her armor and shield to great effect, even being able to defend with both hands simultaneously, but relies more on her weapon to win in the end. Through incredible dexterity, she switches between rifle, spear, and sword effortlessly and fluidly, making her attacks precise and rapid. Then theres Ren, who can be equally frustrating to fight. While his bullet caliber is small, he can pepper someone enough to force them to change tactics, and from there, he can find someone's weak point and exploit it with acute attacks. His main concern is his lacking stamina. Then..." she gave a long sigh, and a smile appeared on her face. "Then theres Nora. The only weakness I can think of, the only one, is ammo capacity..."

Down below, Nora greeted her friends with glee, having just come back from the forge to do modifications. Spinning in place, she showcased the built in bandolier for her waist, with the grenades lined up side ways in stacks of three on either side of her belly, doubling the ammo she carried at any given moment from six in her gun to six in her gun and six on her. "I don't know why I didn't do this sooner!" she told them with laughter.

Glynda chuckled as she watched the developments down below, but her focus was broken when Ozpin came and entered the room. She stood up to attention, as did the other teachers. "Glynda" he said.

"I'm their chaperone?" she asked. He nodded. "Understood."

-End Chapter 12-

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Donnie Orzabal is a reference to Donnie Darko, and Orzabal is the last name of the man who did the song "Mad World", so there's that, and Mr. Rogi backwards is (drum roll) Igor. Take it as you will.


	13. Welcome to Bea- Atlas...

They had flown all night to Atlas, and when Glynda woke up in the morning to check on her forty seven students, she realized she had understated how cold it was going to be. There in between the rows of seats that were installed for just this trip, on the floor, laid bundled together most of the fighters from Vale. Yang was in the middle of the pile to radiate heat, while Weiss and those with cloaks and hoods had been put on top to trap it. Only the fourth years had either the foresight to pack extra clothing or the physique to tough it out, and so they all still sat in their seats sleeping. Glynda clapped her hands three times, jolting awake everyone. They all looked to her confused and dazed, several people spazzing out and falling off of the mound of people.

Glynda stood composed yet disappointed in a thick black parka, snarking "I thought I made myself perfectly clear when I had said that Atlas was having a cold winter this year, was I not?"

An arm popped out of the mound, some third year with their scroll in hand. After a moment of flipping through apps, the owner of the arm gave a muffled shout back "it's negative thirty degrees! We're not even there yet!"

Another muffled voice, "Which degrees?"

"What do you think? Fahrenheit." Everybody in the mound started moaning and complaining.

"Why didn't you tell us it would be so cold Weiss!?" some voice said.

"I'm sorry! I wasn't thinking about it!"

Yang could barely be heard underneath all of the flesh and clothing, but if one listened close, they could hear her snark back "that's a seventy fucking degree difference Glynda, with no time to acclimate... I mean, it doesn't make a difference to me, but that's just not cool... actually, that's not cool, it's rather cold... heh..."

"Well, fortunately for all of you, we will be landing in a couple minutes, and from there you may wander until tonight where we will meet up at the dorms they have reserved for us. While you wander, you may get more clothing, as I imagine several of you were going to do anyways during your shopping sprees."

Begrudgingly, the half frozen students detangled themselves and lined the windows, the gray and white capital of Atlas before them in all of it's morning glory. Like all of the other capitals, the city of Atlas sat next to a massive bay, the sea to it's west just like Vale. Unlike Vale however, instead of a consistent low building height throughout the city leading up to Beacon across the water, Atlas' highest point was in the middle of the city, the colossal 150 story tall Council building, and from that point smaller skyscrapers spilled out across flat lands until one could see factories and military air bases lining the entire perimeter. While it impressed the young adults to no end through it's large scale and ogling heights, it's largest flaw was that of it's color: gray. Every building was a concrete giant, and while the style from building to skyscraper ranged from simple to elegant, it was all still just overwhelmingly and oppressively gray. Even the golden white sun casting light sideways at the city producing all sorts of interesting shadows couldn't remove the fact that if it wasn't gray cement, it was white snow. The only reprieve they could find was the multitude of billboards and signs littering the urban jungle, but from where they were approaching, they couldn't see them too clearly.  
Touching down on the partially frozen bay, the teams of Vale hesitated to disembark, but the doors opened up without warning and Glynda pushed them out. They found that it was warmer on the airship much to their displeasure, but forced themselves to march on in search of clothes. Making their way on from the bay, the students of Vale were somewhat surprised by how many people were out and about regardless of the climate, like the fisherman starting their rounds, some families who were waiting for the students who originally came from Atlas, several officials who conversed with Glynda and the airship captain, regular people who were getting seafood for breakfast, and even lightly dressed joggers who seemed ridiculously out of place. 

"It feels like a snowy Vale is all" Blake shivered as they walked down the street huddled like penguins, clutching tightly to their luggage for every bit of warmth.

"Probably because they're just people, like the people back home, just a different location..." Jaune said, equally surprised by the amount of life out on the borders of the city.

After twenty minutes of making a beeline for the center of the city, what felt like an eternity, team RWBY and JNPR found a 6 floor clothing store that they promptly ran into and raided the shelves with fervor. Inside it was much warmer, with even the colors and furniture contrasting the gray and white outside with earthly colors and reds. Without thinking about it, everyone bought multiple sets of thermal underwear and changed into them immediately. From there, they calmed down and chose modifications to their outfits at their own pace.  
Weiss and Yang followed whomever around, as they apparently kept the same temperature under regular circumstances and as such had no need for new clothing. Jaune did bring his long tan frock coat, so after the thermals, he put it over his hoody but under the armor and was good to go. Similarly, Pyrrha brought her red cloak that Jaune got her the year previous, so after thermals and some tight pants and wool shirts, she put her armor on top of everything and was good as well. Ren donned an olive green petticoat, and Nora a ultra thick, pink gilet vest, white capris, and a squirrel hat.  
Blake took a bit more time, and to no one's surprise flocked to the darker sections of the store, eventually settling on black, loose fitting canvas pants lined in parts with wool, a matching black leather jacket with a messy white fur lining around the neck, matching gloves, and two foot and a half long squares of black cloth that sat around either side of her waist with the same fur as the jacket on top of the waist line. Accompanying Blake was Ruby, who found herself tightening the hem of her skirt to lessen the poofy affect to counter any drafts she might encounter. The Rose didn't feel she needed much, but refused to let her style be compromised, so she bought a small assortment of clothes, chop them up, then sew together what she wanted in the end. The result was a red form fitting jacket with long flanks to cover the side of her legs to her knees, extra flared black sleeves with double layering on the shoulders, and a black over layered corset to keep her mid area warm. Then for her hood she doubled up on the fur and put it over her new jacket, then covered her shins and the top of her boots with red and black gaiters. At first she struggled to move wearing both corsets, and a lot of added weight, but came to the conclusion that she was just use to so little weight beyond her weapon that all she had to do was suck it up.  
After an hour, the eight of them found themselves sitting around a coffee table in some shop drinking their favorite hot beverages, waiting for someone to bring up the one thing on everybody's mind.

Jaune was the one to say it. "Okay, what happened on the airship, stays on the airship..."

"Agreed" everyone echoed.

Silence. Weiss coughed. They listened to the music play and the indistinct chatter of the coffee shop, still mulling over the pile of bodies they made with themselves, and cursing the cold for their lack of sleep. Then Blake started giggling to herself, a shameful smile on her face.

"What?" Weiss asked.

Blake laughed a little louder, garnering the curiosity of the others. "Someone's hand was on my ass the entire time, and I didn't even care because their hand was so warm..." she looked at her cup, rolling the black coffee around to keep from looking at her friends directly.

"Haha, that was me" Yang gleefully admitted, "Loraine trapped my arm under her, so I couldn't move even if I wanted to. But don't worry, you have a very nice ass, I quite liked holding on to it."

Weiss sighed. "I had someone's foot in my back the entire time, ah it was terrible." There were murmurs of agreement.

"Okay," Pyrrha started, "who here actually got any sleep besides towards the end before Glynda woke us up?" Everyone shook their head 'no' except for Nora.

"I thought it was pretty fun. It was basically a slumber party!" she exclaimed in her usual manner.

"That would almost be the definition of a slumber party actually..." Ren said.

Ruby gave him a doubtful look, "I don't think 'slumber party' has an official definition... or does it?" Everybody looked at each other without an answer to give.

Blake took a swig of her drink. "Speaking of parties, whose ready for the masquerade?" Her resentment over the situation was obvious in the way she glared at either the table or her cup.

"Real quick, sorry Blake," Jaune interrupted, "I just want to say before we move on, Wilam has the worst smelling armpits ever, I almost suffocated! Okay, I'm done, go ahead..."

"My getup's done" Ruby stated. "How'd Sun react when you told him about what you're doing?" she asked Blake.

Blake started grinding the cup into the table, but to no effect other than a low noise that reflected her irritation. "He did the usual. I told him I wouldn't be there for most of it and so he apologized and tried comforting me. I guess he didn't do anything wrong, but freaking Ozpin. It's either we're not doing anything or we're giving up our few moments of peace for some possible straws." She slammed the cup down with a bang and pushed it away. 

"Hey, it's not like," Weiss stopped briefly, rethinking her argument, then restarted, "this lead could be something game changing, or at least a big advance, and I prefer it to waiting for a civil war to start between the government and faunus. The last thing we need is a genocide to start."

Jaune argued for Blake, "but we still sit around doing nothing most of the time. We could follow this lead almost anytime for the next three weeks while we're here, and Ozpin wants us to do it on our one special event that doesn't involve fighting. He wants you to sing- Weiss, you should be just as angry as Blake about this! You've barely recovered and he wants-"

"It's not like I want to sing. I don't think you guys know this, but the masquerade that Atlas throws whenever the festival comes around is a highly political event, with many celebrities and top echelon people attending. So many in fact, that sometimes the students attending the tournament are outnumbered. You know what that means?" She waited for the rest of them to look at her, and they waited for her to give the somewhat obvious answer. "My dad's going to be there, and I'll have to stand on stage for him again, and sing, and he'll try and talk to me, convince me to do one thing or another, tell me what I'm doing has no bearing on anything and I should just give up-" she started coughing again.

Nora felt out of the loop. "Why is Ozpin having you sing?" she asked.

"Same reason as Ruby, Yang, me and you," Pyrrha answered cooly, "people know us one way or another, and they would suspect something if we weren't there. For that same reason is why Ozpin is having us question certain folk," and then Pyrrha herself gave a look similar to Blake, one of apathy laced with disappointment and anger. 

"He said other trusted teams are doing things too, but ever since Fox turned out to be a traitor, he's really gotten picky about who he trusts." Ruby pointed in the general direction of her partner and continued, "and yeah, Weiss is actually a celebrity herself, so she's supposed to make an appearance and distract everyone. Same as Pyrrha" she added after a moment.

"I'm not looking forward to our job though," said Ren.

"Yeah?" Yang smirked, "is it because you won't be able to woo Nora?"

Ren's expression didn't change, though Nora blushed. "No, no... it's just that if Blake or I mess up," he took a sip of his tea, "well first, it's going to be cold, but more importantly, we..." his pause became long, and he spoke slowly, "we could start a global war between the four kingdoms..." and with that took another sip.

Ruby sniffled and itched her nose. "At least we get to wear costumes, am I right? You guys should see mine, it's pretty awesome."

Weiss face palmed. "I don't get a costume Ruby, we talked about this, don't rub it in..."

"Make one then!" Yang told her. "Just because you shouldn't wear a mask doesn't mean you can't wear a fancy dress."

"No one gets to see mine..." Blake mumbled to herself.

After a full day of aquatinting themselves with Atlas, the students were directed to their 'dorms', and by dorms the teams found that they meant luxurious apartments on the lower floors of the Council building, apartments with marble countertops in the kitchen, black and white tiled bathrooms, four king sized beds for each room, and a balcony to the outside world. Ruby didn't hesitate to call their dorms back home 'shit' in comparison, and felt they had been ripped off.  
To their surprise, the Atlas premiere training school, Sanctuary, was a literal neighbor to the Council Building, it being one of the massive skyscrapers surrounding it. And upon settling down in their temporary dorms, a brochure left on the countertop revealed to them that the location of the masquerade one week from the day was to take place in the Council building in a great hall located two thirds of the way up from the bottom.  
What they didn't know was however, somewhere in between where they were and the great hall, among all of the other contenders for the tournament, somewhere was Penny and her teammate, Phoenix.

Penny plugged into the wall her unique input jack that linked into her back, and took a lay down on one of the big comfy beds that were provided. It was her first time sleeping on something other than cold, hard stainless steal, and as far as she could tell, it felt nice in that it enveloped her. Looking over to her agitated teammate, she asked "what's the matter?"

Phoenix, who too was sitting on her bed, made another scratch mark on her pad, responding "I still can't come up with a good team name! I don't get how these headmasters can do this on the fly, but I'd wish they help us out here, but nooooo..." she moaned, "the closest thing I've got to anything that makes sense is PVLO for pavilion, which is by definition a free standing structure, so it's not terrible, but it doesn't end with the right letter..."

"Would you like me to help?" Penny asked in the most innocent of ways.

The redhead gave a long sigh. "What would help me is if Jack wasn't on our team."

"Is it because his name doesn't work with ours?" she asked. She didn't believe it was the only problem, but she was afraid of saying anything negative of others. Who knows what they could do? She quickly found herself relieved when her teammate responded on the same wavelength.

"It's not the only problem. I don't trust him, I mean, even his uncle warned me against him..." she yawned. "Wouldn't that be fun eh? In the middle of the tournament, he starts attacking us for reasons beyond us." She yawned again, then dropped her pad of paper and rolled over to face Penny. "Say, what does it feel like to be a android?" There was no shame in her question. Penny remarked on it.

"You are very direct in your manner of speaking, even more so than what I experienced Ruby to be like. I cannot truly compare how it feels to be an android to that of being a human, but I can tell you what I believe is missing. From what I can tell, and from what my scanners tell me, I am missing alot of the small details that humans notice, like cold, softness, ticklishness, pain, I do not understand these concepts as you do." Penny crossed her arms and brought her feet together, preparing herself for sleep mode.

"You mentioned Ruby again," the redhead said. "Whose Ruby?"

"My friend."

"How many friends do you have?"

"I guess you could say she is my only friend..." Penny felt sad for a moment.

"Huh, reminds me of when I was younger. What about me? Can I be your friend?" The redhead's elegant and graceful manner of dress and movement betrayed her personality, which wasn't simplistic but rather blunt, nice but not naive, nor mean but quick to question.

"Can you be my friend? Well, would you let me be your friend?" Penny asked with hope in her voice.

"Of course." They both smiled. "So, tell me about this Ruby girl..."

-End Chapter 13-

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *References: Blake's outfit is basically what you'd get if Squall (FFVIII) wore a jacket that fit him and was zipped up.


	14. A Gilded Cage, Broken

Six o'clock. Right on time.

Weiss stepped out of the elevator, the first thing she saw being the black curtains wrapped around the stage directly in front of the elevator. She walked the long way around the back and peeped out to get a good look of the ballroom before it was finished being prepared for the masquerade in two hours. At one of the higher floors of the central tower where it was being held, the room was elliptical in shape, the long ways being from where the three elevators opened up on the south side, to the opposite end of the room where a balcony opened up to the north, with larger versions of the same balcony opening up on the east and west sides of the room, except with smaller archways. Lining the east and west sides of the room were tables being prepped with food and beverages, ice sculptures, various decorations, and deep crimson table clothes to match the brown marbled flooring that when combined with the gold glow of the lamps stacked on the walls, gave a style more reminiscent of Vale's castle based architecture rather than Atlas's mass produced cement buildings. The two features that stood out most to Weiss however, were the north and south points of the room. Firstly, while the large room maintained a warm glow throughout consistently, the northern balcony seemed to pour in blue light and a breeze, the thin ice colored veils doing little to prevent it. And second, the elevators were hidden from anyone's sight once they stepped onto the dance floor as the stands for the musicians and main stand for whoever was singing acted as a wall hiding the elevator doors, breaking up what would've felt like a room too open into something more manageable.

"Ms. Schnee, it's good to see you came in early" Glynda spoke out, breaking Weiss from her daze. She was talking to someone.

Weiss straightened out her back and coughed into her fist. "Professor," she greeted. The witch motioned her over with a small hand gesture, something a bit more informal of her in attempt to keep Weiss at ease, something the duelist herself appreciated.

Weiss walked the distance to Glynda but paid more attention to the others in the large ballroom. There were workers of course, still setting the tables and dusting the walls, and musicians tuning their instruments, but what caught her eye was the small collection of mostly girls whose purpose she couldn't quite figure out. It became obvious once Glynda started talking. "I assume you know who this is?" she asked, pointing to the small girl she had been talking to.

She stared at the girl. The duelist looked slightly downwards to meet eyes with her, and figured she must of been around 16. The girl looked meekly back, eventually looking away in abashment. Weiss clicked her tongue, a habit she regrettably picked up from Yang, and looked back to her professor and shrugged. 

Glynda's expression went from a slight smile and relaxed brows to a slight frown and disappointed eyes. "This is Casey Williams Ms. Schnee, and she will be performing the duet with you..."

"Wha...?"

The purpose of the other girls there early was the same as Weiss's, and that was as guest singers. This being a high importance event, it made sense that a lot of money was being spread around, which meant...

Casey spoke up, brushing her dark hair out of her face first before whispering, "Ozpin told me about your situation, so I thought I could help out."

If asked, Weiss would've had to confess shock to many things at that moment, one being the girl's striking resemblance to Ruby, how adorable she was, the fact that this recent idol was so small and timid looking, and that Ozpin has direct ties to her. On second consideration thought, Weiss felt that she shouldn't have been so surprised that someone as influential as Ozpin had relations with other important celebrities.

"Uh," she muttered, still somewhat shocked, "thank you?" She became embarrassed with her undignified state.

A small nod. "So... do you want to practice?" she asked shyly.

"You probably should, but I first need a quick word with Ms. Schnee, if that's alright" Glynda answered. 

"Ok. I'll uh... I'll wait by the stage then."

"I shouldn't be long," Weiss responded, not sure in the slightest that a 'quick word' actually meant 'quick'. 

Once the young singer tip toed away in high heels she didn't seem to be use to, Glynda spoke to her student with a smile. "We're killing two birds with one stone, Ms. Schnee, she'll be able to handle the higher notes that you can't in your current state..."

"Whose the other bird?" Weiss asked in mild cynicism, Glynda's metaphor sitting somewhat uncomfortable with her. 

Glynda raised a brow. "You are probably unaware of this, but those hosting this event are willing to pay much more if the two of you work together than if you two were apart."

"Yay," the duelist sarcastically celebrated, "because you guys need more money I imagine..." Weiss's debt came to mind.

"What are you talking about?" Glynda snapped back. "It's you whose getting paid... ah, I see. Did you really think that Ozpin would put you in a bad situation intentionally, or that we wouldn't try to take care of you?"

Weiss felt conflicted. On one literal hand, she held her chest and thought of the possibility that Ozpin was really some puppet master moving pawns for his own gain, and her scars ached faintly. On the other literal hand, she wiped her eye in fear she might've shed a tear, for though it was just a moment, Glynda looked at her with the concern a mother might have for their child, and the way she said 'we' broke through her mental defenses. Weiss chose to answer in silence, giving but a small smile to show some confidence.

The older of the two went "ahem", hiding any emotion she feared she might show. "Well, I don't believe we should keep the young miss waiting now. Go on- oh, almost forgot..." Weiss found herself surprised that Glynda's consistent organization and flawless memory almost lapsed in front of her. "A dress is being sent to your room as we speak for you to wear tonight."

"Will it fit?" she asked, wondering how they would know her measurements.

"Don't worry, it's meant to fit loose" the professor said without a second thought.

Weiss turned around and walked directly away from the woman, holding her small chest in insecurity and embarrassment, whispering to herself "Glynda just insulted my chest; I'm going to have to kill myself now..."

Eight o'clock. The guests started filling into the ballroom and the lights dimmed ever so slightly.

Weiss coughed, then continued her conversation, "you know I sung one of your songs in the opera house a few years back." She adjusted her transparent and glittery shawl that contrasted her pearl white dress, of which did in fact sit loose but managed to sit comfortably on her thin frame with little fear of it slipping off.

Casey, in a clashing scarlet dress, asked "Oh really, which one?"

The singer in white blushed a little, realizing the song she chose spoke about her own certain insecurities, saying "mirror mirror."

"Oh? How'd it go?"

"It was well received. Not as well as your original though I imagine."

She laughed. "Eh, actually... not exactly. I made the mistake of doing all of my first songs in one concert, and well, imagine a bunch of young people getting all hyped up on songs like- well, you know which ones, and then imagine their reaction when I kind of you know, kill the mood with... that... it made the rest of the concert awkward, and it wasn't the one that launched me into fame let me you tell you..." she stuffed a few pieces of cut fruit into her mouth, taking full advantage of the free food. Talking through mushed food, she ineloquently asked "why 'Mirror mirror'?"

"Oh you know, the usual. My dad wanted me to sing and it being an opera, I thought it would've been the most appropriate song-" Weiss stopped herself, waving her hands as if to fan away her previous statement, "not that your songs are inappropriate, it's just I thought if I was going to sing, it would be something by you, I'm am a fan, and it was the most fitting song for the crowd..."

"Don't worry about it, I get'cha."

Weiss watched as the people flocked in, fascinated by the costumes they wore and humored by the older men who didn't even bother, probably ammunition factory CEOs and weapons designers. Casey too watched, but it didn't stop their idle conversation as they waited for their turns up on stage to come.

"So how's the weather in Vale?" Casey asked.

"Hmm, warmer than last year."

"Yeah I heard there was no snow yet."

"You'd hear right."

"I also heard something about a civil war... any idea what that's about?"

Weiss sighed. "Yeah, thats a concern. You know about the White Fang right?"

"Uhm..." Casey gave Weiss a incredulous look, her intelligence insulted.

"Ok, stupid question-"

"No, I get where you're going though. I can take a guess, but go on."

"Basically there are figure heads popping up and calling a call of arms against the roots of the White Fang, seething about the fact that constant attacks have been made and a number of lives lost now, and how the faunus haven't exactly taken responsibility or apologized, and how the White Fang's numbers only seem to be growing and no one has made any strides in really slowing them down, which has lead to the notion that-"

"-that one race is out to get the other..."

"Yes. Weapon's sales have skyrocketed, dust is getting stored like no tomorrow and that's not including the dust that's being stolen, and even faunus in the White Fang are defecting, fearing that a genocide could go down over night. Of course, on the flip side, some real radical faunus are proposing they strike first, and rid the world of us humans. Scuffles in outer villages are picking up between the races, and that's without the White Fang's interference, and of course, because of all the negative emotion, the number of Grimm lounging about our borders have increased dramatically. I've read reports of the more dangerous Grimm that stay in the dark zone between Vale and Vacuo have been migrating east towards us- are you ok?" Weiss had been speaking in a monotone and bored sounding voice as she said this, running her finger around the edge of her water cup and staring at the incoming people, unaware that Casey, still young and innocent, started to tear up and sniffle.

"That's horrible! I've been told things, but..." it became obvious that the tragic part of it all was how unimpressed Weiss had sounded when she ran through the list of dark things out loud. It made the young girl question what Weiss had seen prior that could've made her so callous.

"Oh, oh, I'm sorry," Weiss stepped forward and hugged the girl, trying to undue the damage done. "Don't worry, it'll... be alright... I think..." 

A shiver ran down the duelist's spine at that moment however, but not for any bad reason. Ruby had just walked in with the rest of their team, and her get up was... curious. Weiss believed that Ruby had to have missed the point of making a appealing costume in favor of a intimidating one. From the bottom up, Ruby kept her iconic boots from battle, but took the liberty to put a shine on them. Then upwards of that she wore black pants with the back half of the bottom of a black dress with red decals, the dress itself progressively tore and tattered as it reached away from the waist. For up top, she, as typical of Ruby, had a corset of red and black underneath an open, high collar vest that similar to it's lower counterpart started clean and together at the top, her shoulders, and basically started falling apart as it reached it's bottom at her waist. Her sleeves were separate and stemmed from something hidden under the vest, and were just tight elastic cloth that followed the pattern and flared out into tatters at her wrist. Then there was her mask. It was a wolf's mask, graceful and beautiful, but frightening, black and red with a serious and stern design.  
As Ruby stepped into view, she looked right at Weiss. It couldn't have been more perfect if they planned it, with the blind side of Ruby's face shadowed, nothing but black pass the eye hole on the right, and her focused eye peering through the left, the draft produced by walking billowing her loose cloth behind her like fur, what was visible of her mouth thin and straight, and her gait noble, all together made Weiss feel like a small child being stared down by a black, shadowy, hungry wolf. She broke out into a sweat.  
In comparison, Yang's bear mask and bright yellow dress made one want to laugh by sheer mismatching alone, and Blake's asymmetrical, single sleeved, black, white, and red trimmed kimono with a red waist sash matched with a white multilayered catlike mask with red markings similar to a Grimm mask made one want to either bow or something similar out of respect.

"Aw Weiss, you look adorable!" Yang squealed before putting on a stone cold face and snapping back "you look like someone's mom." They all knew she was jesting.

"Aw Yang, your dress clashes like two angry cats!" Weiss smiled back before coughing. No one could tell if she was joking.

"I'm sorry" Yang conceded in defeat.

"You should be."

Ruby rolled her eye. "Petty insults aside, I'm actually excited Weiss," the wolf said, lightly punching her partner's arm. "Getting to hear you sing and all, it's going to be awesome." As she finished, she finally took notice of the girl embracing Weiss, not hesitating to ask "whose the girl-" without looking too hard, immediately cutting herself off "-oh shit that's Casey Lee Williams..."

Weiss pulled the idol away from her, wiping away several of her tears and calmly stating "I'm singing with her..." 

Ruby and Yang looked at each other with unbridled excitement, clasping their respective right hands together and shaking them furiously in triumph. "Yeah!" they exclaimed, turning back to the young singer with professional demeanors betraying their previous behavior. "Nice to meet you and we're sorry Weiss made you cry, she does it to us all..."

It was Weiss's turn to roll her eyes, but got cut short when she saw one of her father's representatives step out from behind the stage. Without waiting or explaining, she dove underneath the table and hid from sight.

"Smooth" Blake commented.

10:07. Only a few minutes until she had to sing.

She counted eighteen screws in the bottom of the table, nine square feet, about seven hundred cross stitches on the table cloth exposed to her, and a cobweb with a spider named Jeffrey on it. Weiss was perfectly fine feeling like an idiot stuck underneath a table for two hours if it meant not having anything to do with something associated with her father, so thus she memorized every detail underneath that dark table. But alas light breached the void and noise followed in full.

"What are you doing under the table?" Neptune asked in the usual incredulous manner as he held up the table cloth.

"Hiding, go away" she barked, covering her sensitive eyes as she sat in a fetal position.

"Get out of there" he ordered, disbelieving still what he saw.

"No."

"You're being an idiot."

"I beg to differ."

"Oh I see, where's your dignity now?"

"Somewhere else... fine." She clamored onto her hands and knees, cater-pillaring her way into the noticeably colder ballroom. She stood up and took no time to face her back to the dance floor to hide her face.

"They told me you would be here" the blue haired boy told her. His squid mask was something to behold, and caught her off guard.

"Why were you asking might I ask?" Weiss felt snappy today.

"They told me, and I didn't believe them." He sipped away at his wine, taking bits of seafood and crackers from the table in between his drinks, not all too interested in looking directly at Weiss.

"What great friends they are..." she moaned sarcastically. "They're still better than you though."

"I agree, they are good friends regardless of what your twisted perception of the world tells you." His words had bite.

"Ah no..." she moaned again.

The boy turned to her, ready to fight with his words right in public, growling "don't you dare dismiss me again-" noticing a moment late the two people who approached Weiss.

One was the representative for Weiss's father, whom also ran communications some of the time, she being the one who had given Weiss the sensitive Schnee Dust Mining Company information in their first year, a woman of brown hair and blue eyes. The other was a young man boy, too lanky and thin to thought dangerous, with hints of being handsome thanks to what one could assume was a wealthy background. His pale skin and blond hair gave the impression of a Atlas born citizen, and Weiss couldn't shake off the feeling he must have starved himself to some degree, possibly to maintain his figure.

"Hello Ms. Schnee, we've been looking all over for you. Strange that it took this long to find you..." Mary, was the representative's name, greeted.

Weiss smiled. "Strange indeed, I wonder why..."

"And are you a friend of Ms. Schnee's?" the woman asked Neptune, a hint of worry in her voice.

"Ah, I don't even know her, don't worry about it" he laughed, taking a step back away from the three of them and rested against the table, not even bothering to hide his obvious interest in the coming conversation.

"So why are you here? Fancy dancing?" Weiss prodded, also not hiding her obvious feelings and making her discomfort and anger clear and easy to read.

"Actually, your father sent me here for you" Mary said with a strained smile. She reciprocated Weiss's discomfort, but still tried making nice nonetheless.

"Oh really, why?"

"Well," the woman clapped her hands together, excited to finish her task as quickly as possible, "your father says he'll forgive your..." she gulped, "...past actions if you... actually, I should probably first introduce our guest," she pointed to the man boy. "This is Snow Rend, heir to the company Northern Rend, which his father owns..."

"A pleasure to meet you" he spoke finally, smug in his confidence. He held out his hand as if to grab Weiss's hand so that he could kiss it, but Weiss gave him a confused look and kept her hands behind her back.

"Your father and Mr. Rend himself have been planning a joint operation for a couple years now, and their ready to commit under one condition, and if you help in this condition, your father is willing to make you an official heiress again-" Mary was clearly a little stressed and hesitant in her delivery, which only made to make Weiss even more nervous.

Up on stage, a bland man in a tuxedo whose job was to announce whenever a special person of interest was to come onto stage, he announced that 'as a special treat', Casey and Weiss were to perform a slow song 'perfect for amicable bonding'. Weiss and Neptune didn't notice.

"What's this condition?" Weiss interrupted the rep, coughing shortly afterwards.

The older woman gritted her teeth while Snow grinned, finally, politely, stating "his condition is that you and Snow marry and-"

Neptune spat out the wine he had in his mouth, prompting Weiss to slap the glass out of his hand. "What is wrong with you?" she scowled at Neptune, turning back to Mary and Snow and with a equal measure of anger spitting back "no!"

Mary put two fingers to her brow, memories of the last summer and summer before last resurfacing in her mind. "I know you aren't one to jump on deals like this Weiss, but-" She couldn't stop being interrupted.

"Is Weiss Schnee in the room?" the announcer asked, actively searching the crowd, the crowd which joined in the search too.

"-No! I will not come crawling back to Dad and give up all my freedom! I might as well put on the chains now and work in the mines like the faunus he 'hires', at least they could sympathize!" Some more coughs.

"Ah come on, it can't be that bad. I am a pretty awesome guy once you get to know me" Snow boasted with what Weiss found as disgusting narcism.

Neptune laughed, "yeah but once you get to know her, well, ha, good luck..."

"Wait, what does that mean?" Mary asked, reading way too deep into what Neptune meant as 'knowing'.

"You shut up, and you shut up, you have no place in this conversation" Weiss first spoke to the blue haired boy and then to the blond. "I am not marrying this total stranger, nor am I progressing any of my father's plans, nor am I doing anything for you people again!"

"Hey relax, I'm sure we can talk this over..." Snow said, reaching for Weiss's shoulder.

Mary reached forward slightly, crying out "No don't oh dear..."

The moment Snow's hand touched Weiss's shoulder, she grabbed his hand, twisted so he was brought down to his knees, broke his arm, and planted her knee into his face, sprawling him out on the floor in a twitchy mess with blood running from his nose. Weiss was amazed by how fragile he was, every step of punishment having worked out too well.

"Is fighting the only thing you know how to do?" Mary shouted at the duelist, frustrated and disappointed.

"I'm not one for crass words, but," Weiss paused, stepped forward, and pointed a finger right at the rep, shouting at this point as well, "fuck my father, and FUCK EVERYTHING HE CARES ABOUT, because I know for sure he doesn't care about me!"

There was a silence. They just noticed that most everyone in the ballroom including the musicians stopped what they were doing and took to watching the scene play out. Weiss, Mary, and even Neptune turned beet red. The silence seemed to go on for eternity, only ending when a particular someone broke it.

"Woo-hoo! Go Weiss!" Ruby shouted like some kind of fan from the other side of the ballroom, and began clapping enthusiastically. 

Shortly there after, Yang joined in, then team JNPR sans Ren, who along with Blake were still gone, and together they clapped. More and more people joined in, until after a short ten seconds everyone was clapping, impressed by the display.

"Well there you have it ladies and gentlemen," the announcer laughed, "that's a huntress for ya... Ms. Schnee, would you like to leave the poor lad alone and grace us with song?" It clicked with everyone rather quickly; the announcer wasn't a boring man, he was just bored normally.

Still abashed, Weiss made her way through the applauding crowd to the stage where Casey waited. Ruby met her at the base of the stage, at which point Weiss told her "nice save, thanks."

"I've always got your back Weiss, believe or not..." she chuckled, a chuckle Weiss returned.

The song went well, Casey easing the burden on Weiss's part incredibly and totally, and together they performed the unique duet of Casey's song, with added instruments too to layer in euphonically alongside the already impressive synchronization and timing of the two singers.  
Once done, they were greeted with congratulations and praise as they descended the stage, accepting it all in stride. Weiss, now fairly tired, decided there was little point in staying any longer, and retreated back to her room way down stairs almost two hours early, with more than an hour and a half left of the masquerade.  
She dumped herself onto her bed and fell right asleep, done with the night, but the night wasn't done. The tower itself trembled a bit, enough to scare Weiss awake. Checking her scroll, it read a couple minutes from midnight.

-End Chapter 14-


	15. Risky Curiosity, Fulfilled

Nine o'clock. Blake took a deep breath.

"Sun..." she said with sorrow.

He frowned. "Is it time for you to go?"

"Yes..."

His shoulder was warm and Blake wanted to keep resting her brow upon it, but she knew she couldn't. The black haired girl gently pushed against Sun's palms, spacing herself from him, and looked into his eyes longingly.

"Sorry..." she whispered.

Blake pulled down her cat mask as she turned away, but Sun tugged on her arm, turning her back to him. He lifted her mask back up and closed in on her. "Good luck" he said nudging her chin, then kissed her.

A quick smile later, Blake found herself on the north balcony, which unlike the other two balconies was empty save for Ren; the west had couples ogling the bay while the east had couples ogling the early night moon, while the north's view of city and snowscape was actually designed as a military and defensive counter measure against northern attacks rather than a view. While they had the chance, Blake and Ren went to the far side of the balcony to hide themselves from view using the wall and hopped over the railing and caught themselves on the balcony the floor below. There they found two sets of cloaks and scarfs along with their weapons and other items they requested to be left there for their mission, though whom left the supplies they did not know.  
Now donned in even darker clothing than before, Blake and Ren removed their masks of a cat and snake respectively and wrapped their faces instead in the warm scarfs, finishing the 'costume' by pulling up their hoods. With all distinguishing features hidden, they nodded to each other in silent agreement of readiness, taking deep breaths before the plunge.  
Blake took lead, hopping over the railing once more and running down the side of the tower, Ren following three seconds behind. About three quarters of the way down the tower, they stopped running and instead skated down the last quarter, slowing down significantly as they hit the base where it curved out parallel and flush with the ground. Wasting no time, they sprinted to the closest manhole within seconds and pulled it open, dropping down into the sewers and pulling the heavy iron door shut on them.  
They both were out of breath, for both the freezing air they couldn't breath as they ran down the tower coupled with the two minute run plus a minute of skating was to neither of their surprise too much to bear. A quick check of their scrolls showed that the grinding of shoes on concrete was enough by itself to put them at half aura, for otherwise their shoes would've been tore to bits.

'Ready?' was the message of Blake's nod, to which he nodded back 'yes'. 

They began jogging east along the path they had memorized on paper, except now everything was there and real, with full detail, some of which they could've done without. The sewers were built with three foot wide walkways on either side of a three foot wide channel filled most of the way with sea water so that the excrements of the city could float along, and steam pipes ran along the wall to keep the temperature just high enough so that the water wouldn't freeze. That said, it was much warmer, although smellier, down in the sewers than it was outside. It's design was based off the notion that if the city came under attack again as it had been before, people need a place to go, hence the just wide enough walkways, seven foot ceiling, occasional lamp to dispel the darkness, and manholes that opened up into the basements of buildings.  
They came upon the second four way intersection where they crossed the steel grating and went left to follow the north channel, counting the number of manholes they passed by until they counted four, the fourth being the one they were looking for. Climbing the ladder up, the steel cover lifted up and over easily, raising the question between the two of them if that route was being used by someone else frequently. Warmer air spilled onto them, and climbing out they found themselves exactly where they wanted to be, the basement. Dim and humid, it was still more welcome than the sewers.

'You lead' Blake nodded to Ren. 

He wondered a little bit, discovering the service access to the bottom of the elevator shafts on the south wall, but needed to find something else first. Going up the stairs, as promised, they found themselves one floor below ground and in a hallway with the door they were looking for labeled 'Security'. They retreated to the stairs out of sight and checked the time.  
It was nine ten about. They waited five minutes until a quarter after.  
They could hear a voice within the security room, and shortly after a man opened the door and walked out, grumbling something about "surprise health inspector checks" and walked up the stairs into the reception area. It was beyond them how Glynda or Ozpin could manage that, but they knew they would have to wait on the answer. The door unlocked, Ren ran solo to it, quiet as a shadow, and popped into the now empty room. Scanning the wall of security cam feed screens, he found the set covering the fourth elevator shaft and the two covering the top floor hallway. With no time to spare, he pulled out his scroll and used a wire with a universal plug in bit to connect into the tv inputs mainframe and activated the preprogrammed file on his scroll that opened up the system files and classes, giving him access to the ip addresses of the cam feeds they needed to alter. Once the files were dragged, he paused the live recordings of only the screens that needed to not show Ren or Blake's movement, immediately sneaking out of the room and closing the door again, rushing back down the stairs into the second floor basement.  
Ren clenched his chest and took a quiet but deep breath, receiving a small pat on the back from Blake out of respect. Pulling his scroll back out, he opened up other programs and plugged in the addresses for the tv's and their feeds, and giving a quick check to make sure the elevator shaft was quiet and still, he set the recordings of the shaft to repeat the last ten seconds until he cancelled the program.  
With gloves equipped, they entered the elevator shaft, running up the walls ands jumping through the small gap between the elevator and the wall so they were on top of the cabin, from there they started climbing the cables that held the elevator cabin all the way up to the top at floor seventy, a good deal of resentment building up for the resident's choice of apartment. After the twenty minute climb where the elevator happened to remain unused, they took another rest so that Ren could run a parallel program for the hallway to repeat the last ten seconds of recording so that if they check the tapes, the two of them still won't show up. Once done, they pried open the door to the top floor, stepping onto solid ground once more. Ren cancelled the program for the shaft, and they proceeded to the right down the hallway.  
That is to say, at the top floor, there was little to call it a hallway, as aside from the four elevator doors, there was only two apartment doors, one to the east, and one to the west, with the hallways only being a couple meters long from the closest elevator. They needed the east door.  
Blake took her turn this time, kneeling down in front of the door knob, and pulled out the special ops pocket kit Pyrrha had given Ruby as a gift, aware that unlike Ruby, Blake knew how to pick locks. But that wasn't the only lock that needed picking, as to the right of the silver door knob was an electric card lock, a sign of higher class citizens, not that the penthouse was enough of a give away. Before she worked on the mechanical part of the task, she used the allen wrench set to open up the electric lock cover to expose the colorful wiring underneath, taking the moment to get acquainted with the set up.  
Guessing somewhat on the procedure, she disengaged the sensor from the physical lock so that an alert wouldn't go off when it switched positions, then she disconnected the live wire powering a piston that held the lock closed, allowing the bar to slide into the door frame. From there she confidently picked the lock on the knob and gently creaked the door open towards her, allowing Ren inside. She relocked the knob while Ren held the door open, and then Blake unlocked the electric lock from the inside, allowing her to reconnect everything on the outside and putting it back together, eventually closing the door behind them. She relocked the electric lock from the inside, and Ren shut off the second program and un-paused the security cams.

'Wow!' was the look they gave each other, a monumental amount of stress lifted from their shoulders as the hardest part was over, but they dared not speak still, as there might yet be private security devices recording them. 

And at last, they started their true mission; search Jack Vorst's penthouse for clues and leads on any suspect activities. A source informed Ozpin that Jack was... just that, suspect, but was still one of their strongest leads on any possible White Fang plans if he is related. And so the search began.  
Just looking from the entrance, the penthouse was luxurious and open, with the east most wall being entirely made of glass panes that could be opened to step out onto a balcony that gave a perfect view of the moon with no buildings obstructing it, a full kitchen and dining room to their left, and doors on the right leading presumably to a bathroom and bedroom. In the middle of the penthouse, the floor lowered into a den of sorts, with a large black couch facing the glass wall and a massive tv on a mahogany table shelf unit in between them. The carpeting was white, the walls were creme colored with paintings hung up and the largest spaces had green and purple grape vine designs to break up the white, the wood flooring in the kitchen and dining room ran in darker wood themes, the walls in the kitchen corner were layered over with red bricks, black marble countertops, and just an overall feeling of wealth, as a poorer person would not have been able to afford so much color, comforts, and space in the middle of the city. What was most impressive though was the way the broken moon so well lit the room up, negating the need for lights, so much so that the lights were off and they could still see everything.  
Finished admiring the well furnished and decorated room, they walked around the couch only to notice the same thing almost too late. Looking down at the couch, they both noticed a woman sleeping naked save for a just barely modest bath towel around her chest and waist, red hair sprawled out over the pillow and her pale skin glowing faintly enough to make the tattoos wrapping her arms obvious. She clutched onto a knife she kept close to her belly, and a ash tray on the table in front of her was filled to the brim with the remains of cigarettes. Blake and Ren nearly had a heart attack each.

'No noise' Blake gestured, putting a finger to her mouth. Ren nodded in agreement.

Blake explored the left, or rather north side of the penthouse, while Ren went into Jack's bedroom. Blake started by looking underneath the tables, finding nothing. Next under and around the tv and it's shelf unit, finding nothing still. 'No matter' she thought though, as there was still plenty to explore. For whatever reason, several children's toys sat on the table in the middle of the penthouse, though Blake couldn't figure out why Jack would keep those. In the kitchen and on the countertops, Blake questioned the several trays of water, but moved on, finding a storage of dust vials mixed in with spices on a rack in his pantry, along with several pounds of flavored beef jerky and macaroni n' cheese. Underneath, Jack had the full set of copper bottomed cooking pots and pans with matching oven mitts, along with a Rainmaker model 11 battle rifle fully loaded, but nothing incriminating Blake could notice. Blake was impressed with how much liquor and beer Jack had stored in his kitchen, and was even more impressed by the drinking set he had, with gold leaf rings and crystalline glass. Moving on, Blake sat down at the dining room table, memorizing how the papers were arranged. Once she was confident in her ability to set the papers back once she was done, she started shuffling them around looking for anything that popped out.

'Newspaper, what was he looking at last? Stock market? Ok, and ha... he filled in the crossword puzzles too. Some letters... just citizenship taxes and apartment fees. A confirmation letter for a... new account with a Mistral Bank? Castle Gold huh? Okay, and Will Copperfield sealed the deal, I should remember that name. A weapons catalog, a home decorating magazine, gossip pages? Really Jack? Home cooking... okay... medical updates... for Jack huh, well no surprise there; Ruby almost killed him, we already know that. Gym membership offers, restaurant reservation offers, clothing sales offers, damn, how much mail does he get?' 

Blake rearranged the papers to the way they were at first, and started to walk her way to where Ren was, but took notice to something else. On the chair at the end of the table were three sheets of paper with some colored pencils and charcoal sticks. Blake's curiosity got the better of her, prompting her to examine the drawings. The first was of a VTOL airship firing missiles, clearly drawn by a child, but who questioned Blake. The second was a more carefully drawn picture, more practiced, but still the same author, and it was of a northern Ursa, with it's white armor bits covering most of its body. The third wasn't finished, but from what she could see, it was the bottom half of a person, though it's proportions were fairly off, but the black charcoal reminded her of Adam and his dark attire, though this one didn't seem to have his coattails drawn in yet, if at all. Neither a shirt Blake started to notice, and rather quickly she figured that she had no idea what she was actually looking at.  
Her thoughts were brought to a slow stop however when she noticed it was slightly brighter than it was before, and her cat ears twitched off in warning of it. Turning to look out the glass wall, Blake's eyes widened to discover a stealth copter shining it's weak spot light on her. Not a moment later, a glass panel breaking shattered the dead silence as a sniper's bullet planted itself into Blake's dome.  
Blake's vision and balance came back to her slowly as she picked herself off the floor and hid behind the couch. Seeing it too late, the faunus spotted a small sensor above the door, realizing it had set off a silent alarm as it blinked a tiny flashing red light. Forgetting the sleeping woman, Blake was taken off guard once again as a knife planted itself into the fabric inches from her face. The now naked woman having missed, tried her blind luck again, but Blake caught her wrist. They struggled for a couple seconds before Ren grappled the woman from behind and yelled 'Just Run!' in a noticeably deeper voice to hide his identity.  
Eager to not miss a beat this time, Blake ran out from behind the couch, through the broken window, and jumped. The last thing she saw was four men rappelling down onto the balcony before she started running down the sloped side of the apartment building they snuck into. The stealth copter, silent as they came, gave chase, following the billowing black shadow that was Blake. To quicken her descent, she repeatedly jumped, sliding each time she touched back to the sloped building before throwing herself down even faster again. Within the minute, she was dashing through alley ways of smaller buildings as the copter flew over head tracking her.  
Blake hopped fences, zigzagged through narrowing alleys, used the shadows, and made a point to lose the copter, eventually succeeding. Slightly panicking, she went back to the central tower according to plan and ran up the north face of the building up to the first ledge once she saw no trace of the copter. Feeling it was safe to proceed even farther, Blake spent the next hour jumping, running, and climbing the 1000 feet up to the balcony underneath the ballroom, changing into her kimono once again. She wiped the dripping sweat off, sat while she caught her ragged breath back, and massaged her sore neck that had popped when she was shot, possibly tearing a muscle or tendon based off the amount of pain she felt. Once resembling someone remotely calm, she climbed back up to the dance floor where Ruby and Sun were waiting for her.

"What... what... what time... time is it?" Blake panted, using her voice for the first time in hours.

"Almost twelve, why? How'd it go?" Ruby asked with suspicion. "Where's Ren?"

Before she could say anymore, the three of them felt a tremor in the floor, as if somewhere something exploded.

-End Chapter 15-


	16. Verbal Engagements, Conquered

8:37. The party had already taken it's toll on Jaune and Pyrrha.

"Ah! Pyrrha Nikos! It's a pleasure to meet you!" greeted yet another aged adult, interrupting whatever conversation the two teens were trying to have with team BNSH. Although they were on the middle of the dance floor surrounded by other dancers, they had spent their entire time so far talking.

The redhead turned and smiled, politely responding "the pleasure's all mine Mr...?" She left her hand dangling in question, the polite way to show curiosity of course.

"Just call me Leeron young lass..." said the rugged looking man.

Jaune and Pyrrha shot each other a look. Leeron Greywright was one of the people they needed to question. Their job just got a bit easier.

"Oh Mr. Greywright- I'm sorry, Leeron, I've heard impressive things about your works!" Pyrrha gushed.

"Ey, not as impressive as the work you do with your blade I assure you," he said with humility, and a strange accent. "I have teams of people backing me up, you do all of your's clean and in the moment, and that I respect."

"I believe you're mistaken sir, but I have a team too, and I wouldn't be able to do the things I do without them. In fact, Jaune here is my team leader..." she drifted her hand in Jaune's direction, presenting him as professionally as she could.

The long haired man seemed highly skeptical, and leaned back eyeing Jaune in all of his glory with his tongue against his cheek. "You a horse?" he asked, referring to the mask.

Jaune donned a simple black tuxedo with a golden tie but wore his first hand made article of clothing proudly, a mask that covered the top half of his face and mildly resembled a horse. The give away was the swept back mane of yellow tassel that reached his shoulders, giving Jaune an uncommon air of knightly presence. "Yes" he answered calmly, hands folded behind his back.

"You her leader?"

"Yes."

"You better than her?"

"No."

"She listen to you?"

"Yes."

"You listen to her?"

"Yes."

"You a good leader?"

"I hope so."

They continued to stare at each other, the older of the two eventually relaxing and patting the knight's shoulder saying "I hope you are laddie, if for no other reason than your teammate, you're a lucky man..." Pyrrha was the one who gave a quiet chuckle.

Hoping to steer the conversation, Pyrrha reeled back in the topic she started with. "So how is your Atlesian Paladin project coming along? I hear they're quite the game changer." They quickly discovered it didn't take much to open that can of worms.

"Ey, it's a royal bitch it is, do you know how long it took to balance the arms on that monster? First fifty prototypes blew out the hydraulics on the legs before we could even get the blasted thing running fast enough to catch a fat pig with it's legs sawed off. Don't even get me started on the fucking White Fang eh, I've had to hire a private investigator to look into all of me employees, the rotten lot of them, selling my creations to Grimm lov'n heathens. It makes me look bad you can imagine..."

9:00 o'clock. The man finally had his fill of talking.

"Before I leave though lass, I have an arsehole of a friend who'd like to talk to you about sponsoring his bullets. He's a good man, owns Excalibur, he's been dying to meet' ya."

"Well I think we can report to Ozpin that he's clean" Jaune mumbled to Pyrrha as they walked away. "I'm not the only one with that impression, am I?"

Pyrrha sighed. "No, he seemed as genuine as one could be." She leaned on his shoulder, glad to drop the politesse for the minute. Jaune pulled up her hands, directing them into a slow and easy dancing position, swaying back and forth to the soft strings of the musicians. She sighed again. "We needed this. This calm is... refreshing."

"Agreed. Though I guess if you're looking for calm, we could've looked elsewhere." 

"Hmm, an occasion is possibly the idea I'm looking for," Pyrrha concluded, her eyes drifting off to the ceiling.

A minute of silence between them. Jaune kept his eyes on her face as she was carried aloft with her thoughts. "Did I tell you how beautiful you are right now?"

She blushed. "Did I tell you how handsome you are?"

"Don't make me fight the point, I'll make sure I win this time if we're limited to just words" he remarked, laughter in his words.

Pyrrha laughed. "Well, you are. Now you know."

"Speaking of knowing, knowing you, whats the meaning behind the mask, because I can't come up with any obvious answers." He referred to her half mask, a stiff feathered piece covering just her right eye, behind which was the start of a braid that trailed along her scalp and all the way down to the bottom of her loose hair. 

"It's supposed to be an owl, owls who represent wisdom depending on who you ask."

"Wisdom? From you I'd expect something like... actually wisdom makes sense for you..." Jaune stopped himself. He knew Pyrrha's personality, and he knew she wouldn't boast something as braggart as 'strength' or 'natural skill', but choose a humbler, more fundamental trait.

"Wisdom is what allows us to make good choices, inside and outside of combat, wisdom allows us to grow and improve, and wisdom allows us to decide what's important..." The Knight laughed. Pyrrha's high self standard philosophy was well respected, and well enough predictable that it humored the boy. She blushed again, slapping his arm teasingly "don't mock me!"

"I'm not I'm not I'm not" he defended verbally, "I'd be worried if you didn't say something like that."

"You worry about me?" she asked with a tilted head. They both knew she was fishing.

"Nah, never, I don't know why I even bother half the time, I should just let you do everything."

"You ass" she grinned.

"Horse actually."

The way his brow raised underneath his mask was enough to put her into another giggling fit, forcing her to look down to hide her face, her chest heaving rapidly with silent breaths of laughter. All good feelings. Glancing to the side cut her short however, as she spotted Penny and another approaching. Reacting fast, Pyrrha put Jaune in between her and the ginger girl, crouching a little to lessen her profile even.

"Wha?"

"It's that girl I beat last year, Penny!" she whispered.

"And?"

Pyrrha's face twisted in worry, "I don't want to talk to someone I defeated, it'll make me feel guilty!"

"Hello Pyrrha!" greeted the familiar face.

"Too late" muttered Jaune to himself as they turned to greet the next contestants for Pyrrha's attention.

"Hello there Penny, how have you fared lately?"

"Fantastic!" announced the quirky girl, soon accompanied by hiccups. "How about you?" 

"There's highs and lows, but we always get through. Whose your friend-" Pyrrha put a hand to her face, "I'm sorry, I almost didn't recognize you, Phoenix Lynn if I'm not mistaken?"

"You're not mistaken," assured the second redhead. "And you're Pyrrha Nikos unless I've been lied to..."

"Not this time, pleasure to meet you."

"Likewise." The two redheads shook hands, a dash of rivalry in their aggressive and tight grips.

"I've heard that name before, are you a repeated victor like Pyrrha?" questioned Jaune, racking his mind around that name, 'Phoenix Lynn'.

The girl rolled her eyes. "Nah, not quite, I'm just the main heir to the Evelyn bloodline." Jaune looked at her blankly. "Evelyn the Fire Maiden, ya know? The one who started the rekindling of humanity's chance against the Grimm, the first of the heroes of old to light the darkness for civilization as we know it?" She was surprised he didn't instantly recognize her. Pyrrha reminisced of a similar instance with her when they first met.

"Oh shit that's you" Jaune whispered, the hours of history class running back to him. "You're a direct descendant?"

"Eh, the bloods thin" she mused and shrugged. "It's a title thing that's apparently enough to be in the public's sights constantly. So no, to answer your question, I'm not a repeated victor like Pyrrha here, but I'm no slouch in the pits, and by the looks of it... you're no slouch either" she clicked her tongue twice and winked at Jaune through her elaborate red feather head dressing, of which had a gradient of red to orange running up it.

"No, he's not..." Pyrrha fake smiled as a warning. The other redhead took a small step back feeling accomplished. Dropping the eery face, Pyrrha asked the obvious "so how'd you two meet?"

"We're on a team together for the tournament" Penny declared rather neutrally, not thrilled still with the concept of fighting friends again. "By the way Pyrrha, have you seen Ruby?" she asked, leaning forward enough to get their attention.

The two teens looked around, but not only could they not find Blake and Ren, but Ruby was nowhere to be seen either. "Actually, no now that you ask" Jaune replied. 

"Oh," Penny responded despondently. "Well if you see her, can you tell her I would like very much to see her?"

Pyrrha gave a motherly look to the synthetic, answering "of course."

Ten o'clock. Several singers had filtered through the stage, made their appearance, then left the musicians to continue their lively symphony, and the dance in the middle of the floor was in full swing. That is as much as a formal dance could get.

"I wish tonight could've turned out differently for you two, I really do Nora" said Jaune to his dance partner. He tailored his words so no one overhearing would gain suspicion, making Nora and Ren's situation sound like a breakup instead of what it really was, but in return made Nora feel even worse than she did before. "It's just that sometimes, these things happen..."

"Tonight was going to be our night..." Nora sulked, her eyes that peeped through a silver raven's mask and over Jaune's shoulder, defiantly refusing to look at him in the eyes.

He sighed. "There's always tomorrow" he said with little conviction. 

She sighed. "It's not the same..." her grip tightened on his shoulder, making him wince somewhat in pain.

"Well," he coughed a little, bringing her to attention, "here's what I'll do; I'll play my guitar, Weiss'll sing, and uhm... uh, Blake can do like a ribbon dance... or something... and you and Ren can dance to your heart's content, and it will all happen in our room! How does that sound?" It sounded like he was trying to negotiate with a young child, though she didn't mind.

Nora's frown turned upside down, and a dimple appeared in her cheek that Jaune never noticed before. Still looking away though, she indulged in the thought, retorting "yes, me and Ren will act all romantic and intense while all of you stare at us in a relatively cramp living room... flawless plan fearless leader."

"Hmm." Jaune shrugged. "Oh crap, that reminds me... I almost forgot I set something up for tonight. Anyways, I'm just still surprised by your openness about your feelings with him. Usually you're all clammed up about it," he said, a moment later Nora came to her senses and her eyes widened.

Panicked, she tried miserably to recover, stuttering "not that I really meant romantic, I mean, we're just good friends you know, and... and, it's not like we're going out or anything."

The knight looked over his own shoulder to Pyrrha who watched them dance with amusement, and rolling his eyes he assured Nora "yeah sure Nora, if you say so..."

Several minutes of dancing past, Nora caught up in her imagination giggled randomly to herself. As Pyrrha approached the two of them for a partner trade, they noticed a scene going down off by the east tables. To their disbelief, they witnessed Weiss, in front of a fully attentive crowd, a girl of proper wording, swear like a angry drunk or something of the like. The three of them looked between each other, trying to confirm that what they witnessed really was what happened. 

"Fuck my father, and FUCK EVERYTHING HE CARES ABOUT, because I know for sure he doesn't care about me!" Weiss shouted out.

A silence followed, a silence that gripped the three team members and frightened them. Fortunately, Ruby appeared not ten feet from them, clapping and cheering for the white haired singer. Catching on quick, the present team JNPR joined in on the action, and soon after, the whole room was clapping.  
Weiss made her way onto stage with Casey, where the pianist started the song solo, with strings softly adding on from there. On cue, Weiss and Casey sung together in a lilting tandem, not quite synchronized, but staggered in affect to drive home a almost haunting sound of melancholy.  
The dance floor cleared of everyone except for the couples dancing, or at least couples of dancers, as Pyrrha traded with Jaune for Nora, and Ruby paired up with Jaune. At first as they danced, Ruby and Nora were still tittering over the Weiss affair, but once the lyrics kicked in, the two shorter huntresses eyes immediately cast down in some hidden sorrow. Pyrrha and Jaune looked at each other in brief confusion, the song not having any similar effect on them at all but still aware it did for others.  
Nora's grip on Pyrrha's hand started to tighten without her realizing it, Pyrrha wincing in pain from the feeling of all the bones in her hand squeezing together and crunching as they did so, even going as far as to bring the redhead halfway to her knees before she begged Nora to stop.

"Oh, I'm- I'm sorry Pyrrha!" Nora apologized, worried. 

"S'kay" Pyrrha whispered as she regained her composure.

On Jaune's side, he looked at Ruby and her sad state. "We can't keep meeting like this you know..."

Moments passed. "Jaune, what's your mother like?" Ruby asked as she stumbled over his feet, occasionally stepping on his toes.

"Where did that come from?" Jaune knew he was missing some important detail or context.

"Nothing. Your Mom?"

The knight sighed. "Funny. Sweet. Harsh at times. Gaining weight...." he felt Ruby chuckle. "Your's?"

He didn't know. Ruby stopped with the dance etiquette and closed the short distance between them. Ruby hid her wolf face inside his chest and wrapped her arms around his waist completely. He put a hand on her head and one on her back, embracing her as if to keep her warm and hide her from the world. They kept in the spinning motion appropriate to the slow speed of the song, but remained intwined so.

"I'm sorry." A heavy sigh. "We can't keep meeting like this..."

Once the song finished, Ruby pulled herself away as she rubbed her nose fleetingly. She didn't look him in the eyes, but stood on her tippy toes and put a kiss on his cheek, where after he could've sworn he saw her lips say 'thank you' before she walked away.

"Your costume's scary by the way! It's awesome!" he shouted over the clatter of the crowd to the disappearing girl.

11:50.

"Pyrrha! How many times do I have to tell you!? My toothbrush is navy blue!" Jaune argued as he tangoed with his partner.

"Are you colorblind? It's obviously indigo!" she retorted.

"Indigo's darker!"

"Yeah, and your toothbrush is darker!"

"No, it's grayer, which is navy blue!"

"Jaune, look at those plastic cups over there, okay? What color are those?"

"Uh... blue?"

"Those are navy blue, see the gray? Your toothbrush doesn't have that!"

"That's because of the bathroom lighting, normally there's a grey mist film thing over it."

"That's the toothpaste you don't clean off! If you cleaned your utensils, they wouldn't have films of gray over them!"

"Hey you! Madam!" Jaune tagged one of the older women dancing near them, pulling her full attention. "Do you use a Bilson's toothbrush?"

"I'd say it's an admiral blue..." the woman grumbled as she continued her steps with another.

"Just wait until we get back home, I'll prove to you I'm right!" Pyrrha promised with zeal in her eyes.

Jaune laughed. "I'd say you put more effort into that argument then you do in fights..." he mocked, baiting her.

She simply rolled her eyes. "Is that why you always lose?" She waited for the verbal combat to began again, but it didn't.

The boy pulled his hands back as if to gesture that he got burned, saying "Woah-kay!", walking backwards. He turned and continued walking, disappearing into the crowd.

The champion stood there for a moment waiting for the knight to come back, but the moment never came. Her expression went from that of amusement to terror and fear, calling out "Jaune!? I'm sorry!?" as she parted the crowd to find him. She found him rather quickly, but not where she excepted him.

"Well I'm ready for round three!" said Casey Lee Williams, back on stage, "this song is for you hunters in the crowd, including my guitarist, Jaune Arc!"

"What?" Pyrrha dumbly said as Jaune got his fingering on the strings of the guitar they provided for him. "Oh no..." she hid her face in her hands, embarrassed to say the least. He didn't look like a fool or anything as he has before, actually the opposite in this case, as Jaune looked... dare anyone say it, cool. He posed like a rocker with his instrument, his coattails were ready to fly, and his mane was ready to whip around his half mask. Pyrrha simply felt the same emotion anytime a close friend puts themselves in front of a crowd with plenty of room for mistakes and public humility.

The others musicians stopped and let Casey and Jaune take the lead, where a strong guitar riff and Casey's 'I burn' crossed with 'From Shadows' voice started the song with power, drums close behind.

"Show me how to fight  
You're getting better all the time  
And lighting up the dark  
Is an art that's hard to teach~  
Another grabs a sword  
An' you lead the herd against the horde  
And as you hold the wavering line  
You can't stay off your feet~"

Jaune looked right at Pyrrha when he cranked up the intensity on the strumming.

"Now dance, sucker, dance  
Man, they'll never have a chance  
There's no doubt you'll pull through  
If we're talking about you~

And now you fly awaaaay  
Take off todaaaay  
Nice work you did  
You're gonna go far, kid~"

"I can't believe you Jaune..."

Casey and Jaune both leaned in on the mic and together dropped lyrics like madmen.

"With a thousand knives  
And a quick goodbye,  
Hit ‘em right between the eyes-  
Hit ‘em right between the eyes,  
When you walk away  
Nothing more to say,  
See the lightning in your eyes  
See the sun as it arrives~"

Pyrrha, and for that matter everyone that knew Jaune, would have to lie if they were to say they weren't impressed.

"Running out of time  
And drifting closer to the line  
Between a loss and victory  
Guess we'll just have to seeee~  
There’s something in your way,  
I'm gonna watch you make them pay  
You only deal in lethal fees,  
What's dead can't disagreeee~

Now dance, sucker, dance  
Man, I never had a chance  
Had I known it was you  
I would've joined your crew-

And now you’ll lead the waaay~  
Show the light of daaay~  
Nice work you did  
You’re gonna go far, kid~  
Go and reave!

With a thousand knives  
And a quick goodbye  
Hit ‘em right between the eyes  
Hit ‘em right between the eyes  
When you walk away  
Nothing more to say  
See the lightning in your eyes  
See the sun as it arrives~"

Jaune went off on another riff, tearing up the cords. It became apparent that he had practiced alot for this occasion.

"Now dance, sucker, dance  
They never had a chance  
And no one back then knew  
It was really only you  
So dance, sucker, dance  
Now we have the chance  
We'll all to follow you~" A pause.  
"With a thousand dives  
And a battle cry  
Hit ‘em right between the eyes  
Hit ‘em right between the eyes  
When you walk away  
Nothing left to slay  
See the fire in your eyes  
And the smoke in the skies  
Time to rise  
Claim your prize  
Hit ‘em right between the eyes  
Hit ‘em right between the eyes  
When you walk away  
Nothing left to pay  
Hear your blade ring in reprise  
See the light shine in your eyes!"

The huntsmen and huntresses whooped and hollered like animals, amped up on what can only be described as music meant for as one charges into battle, the energy overflowing and... excited. Jaune came down from the stage, giving out high fives to every young man in his way with their arms raised. The only one Jaune noticed who wasn't in the mood was Glynda, who was on her scroll talking to someone. Not giving it a second thought at the moment, Jaune triumphantly returned back to Pyrrha.

"How?" she asked the obvious.

"I may or may not have made a deal with Ozpin..." his grin was wide and proud. "What'd you think?"

Pyrrha folded her arms. "It was... energetic." Jaune waited. She gave in, "okay, I'm not going to say anything about the lyrics, but your fingers were on point and very good." 

"You know who I was singing about, right?" he prompted. It all clicked with Pyrrha.

She chuckled at first, then became giddy, covering her mouth as she blushed and looked around, spun around a couple times, then leaned forward into Jaune's face, pulled out, spun around again, then kissed him on the lips for real the second time. 

"Thank you" she giggled. "You didn't have to go on stage to do that, but you did..."

"Anything for the one who made me not-garbage..." he humbly offered.

Pyrrha shook her head. "Oh Jaune, you never were-"

They felt a tremor throughout the building.

-End Chapter 16-

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Leeron was the mechanic in Gurren Lagann, and wright is old english for maker or builder, Greywright being an indication of his profession of metal constructions.  
> Valkyries of Norse Mythology are actually associated with ravens, hence her mask.  
> Athena, goddess of wisdom and war, was associated with owls and sometimes snakes, hence Pyrrha's mask.  
> Jaune's mask is based off the fact that he is a knight. Knights ride horses. I'm sure if you look it up, there's some mythology there too, but I'm sticking with the simplest reasons.  
> The song Casey sings and Jaune plays guitar for is a parody/spoof of the Offspring's "Your gonna go far, kid". You should listen to it.


	17. Assassin's Art, Studied

Ren felt a little... wrong. Snooping as he was, seeing things he didn't need to see left a dirty feeling he wish he could wash away. Entering Jack's bedroom, he saw what appeared to be women's underwear and clothing scattered on the floor, clothing he presumed belonged to the tattooed redhead on the couch, messed up bedsheets, and other items he looked right over on purpose. Someone was getting action to say the least.  
Ignoring the condition the room was left in, he sat down immediately at the computer, prioritizing the most obvious source of information first over anything else. He tapped the keyboard, hoping the computer was left on, but was quickly disappointed, for it was off entirely. The dark haired boy took off his scarf and covered the speakers on the base of the holographic screen and pressed the power button, recognizing the muffled chime start up sound that played before the screen gave promise of light. Next part was a bit more of a nuisance however; the login screen.  
Now Ren had some computer knowledge, but it wasn't anything too impressive. The tools and programs he had been given to use on this mission were actually designed by a new graduate, a fourth year of last year whom had an interesting conversation with Ren about the world of computers around them.

"We live in a mechanical age Ren," the young man told him, "a good portion of the population have a fairly in depth knowledge of physics and mechanical principles that allow countless teenagers to produce their own death weapon 3000's and call themselves hunters, choosing a purpose and making something that fits the mold, other details coming second. Computer programming is exactly the same, function first, form second. Heres the difference though: There are a lot less programmers in this world, the main reason being that most people can appreciate why a flying hunk of lead will stop a beast's heart but can't appreciate why ones and zeros operate a railgun that will do the same except from a mile away. That's why the computer programmers and people who program the computer systems on aircraft and mechs and all the vehicles are invaluable and well paid. Another difference is that a weapon or machine is a solid object only operable by the one wielding it at that moment, while a computer that uses radio broadcast and coded waves can be operated from any distance by multiple people, they can be hacked. Here's my point:  
If a weapon does the job, but is heavy, the wielder shaves off weight. Problems are obvious and kinks can be worked out. If a program does the job... that's it. The programmer can try and speed it up, make it more reliable, but the main concern here is security, and that's where things get scary. The field is not even close to the level of development of machines. This world doesn't have enough people working together to make robust systems that can work against the few hackers out there, to figure out what works, the burden to improve is left to too few who don't know where to start or what to look for, and the only protection we actually have at the moment is that there ARE so few hackers we have to worry about. I'm one of them." The young man handed Ren a couple cords, a data drive, and some instructions. "At least I'm on the good side. Any program you might need is on that drive. Don't lose it, and don't let it fall in anyone else's hands."

Ren ran the password encryption breaker program on his scroll after he plugged it into Jack's computer. Within seconds, the boy stared at Jack's desktop. Opening up a command window, he made a file that he copied the entire computer's databanks into, including anything he might've ever searched or looked up on the internet, then he dragged that file onto his scroll. Once back home, they'd be able to see everything.  
He shut off the computer, making sure everything was left the way they found it, and started the long, tedious process of searching every nook and cranny of his bedroom and bathroom. Porn, dust, weapons, ammo, porn, money, books, porn, clothes, dust, tools, and ammo are the majority of the things he found. And porn. It made Ren ponder.

'With the population being as it is, if a girl featured herself in a adult magazine, chances are that one out of every twenty people she'd see walking down the street would recognize her... at least. Yeah, that's has to be weird.'

Ren inspected every disc and disc case on Jack's shelf, looking for any cd's that weren't music or were hidden inside a case meant for something else, but didn't see anything. He looked for loose carpeting, hidden canisters or secret drawers, but in the end, there were only three things of actual interest that the sleuth found.  
First was a photo book. Ren didn't want to look through it, finding it an invasion of privacy, but in the name of clues, he looked begrudgingly. He was surprise and not at all all at once. Pictures of a younger Jack were abound, innocent though still devious it seemed, but not as numerous as the pictures of other people. A woman in gray coveralls and covered in oil popped up several times, with short black hair and a missing front tooth was one, a strong looking man with an axe at one hip and a shotgun on the other was the other, his features resembling ironwood greatly. Ren made the assumption that these two must've been his parents. Another boy showed up too, one with brown hair instead of the thematic black, and appeared to resemble the mother in features unlike Jack's resemblance to his father, making Ren think he had a brother. Halfway through the book, the pages became void of pictures, and nothing from the most current photo of the brown haired boy could be found.  
Second thing of interest was a bulletin board on the wall adjacent to the computer. On it were several newspaper clippings of various public events, probably meant as reminders, and four spots where pages were stacked on top of each other and every new page was stabbed onto a needle protruding from the board. On each of the pages were a label in the top right corner naming a continent, either Vale, Vacuo, Atlas, or Mistral, and the page itself just lists of names followed by two dates, a gender, and a letter. Flipping through the Vale pages, he skimmed all of the names trying to find out what these pages were meant for, eventually reading a name that made him stop. Summer Rose. A date going back about forty years, and a date going back a little more than a decade ago, female, then 'U'. He flipped back to the front pages, where he then found Fox's name, a date around 21 years ago, and the date he died, male, then 'K', and he saw the names of the hunters Fox killed, presumably their birthdates, their dates of death, gender, then 'K'. Ren was horrified. Jack was keeping track of every huntsmen and huntresses's death dating back fifty years for every continent and circumstance surrounding their death, and forgetting anything weird about that or any reason why he might do it, just the sheer number of pages, names, and ink used to list those 'Killed', 'Suicide', or just simple 'Died', or even more curious, those with the letter 'U' for what Ren guessed meant 'Unknown'. He knew it was exclusive to huntsmen and huntresses when he couldn't find citizen's names he knew for sure died in recent times, making the mystery all the more enticing once the aspect of tragedy had it's moment. Why was Jack doing this?"  
Third was sweet and simple. Looking through the little trash bin under the desk, shivers running down Ren's spine every time his finger's recognized something less than clean or sanitary, he found a crumpled piece of paper at the bottom that once he read made it hard for him to keep his excitement in check.

It was a ripped corner of a larger page, with a hole in it indicating it had been pinned on his bulletin board at one point, and it read 'Factory 114'.

The sound of shattering glass which broke the silence frankly scared Ren half to death, causing him to drop to a crouch and to hide in the closet. Getting a grip on his senses, he silently ran to the window of the bedroom and peeked through the blinds, spotting a stealth copter pulling in close to the balcony. They had been found, he didn't know why, how, or any reason why it was possible, but that was the effect of it. He ran out into the living room, sure that the sleeping woman had to be awake, and searched for the briefest of moments for Blake. The woman was stabbing at Blake from the wrong side of the couch. He looked to his left at the balcony, seeing grapple ropes drop to the balcony, and looked back at the woman as she made a second stab attempt, then did some math. In the end, Ren was sure if someone had to ask him what two times two was in that instant, he would've answered three.  
With a quick to grow pit of despair and dread finding it's place in his stomach, he ran up behind the now naked woman and pulled her back from her spastic stab attempt, and shouted to Blake to run. He was a little surprised to see her expedient escape happen without delay or pause, leaving him alone as four bodies rappelled down and a now glowing naked woman ready to kill within his hands. Risking her freedom, he let go with one hand and reached into his pouch, picking up another 'gift' from the graduated huntsmen.

A bottle and handkerchief fell into Ren's hands, as curtesy of the hacker huntsmen. "And this is for if you really need to get to a console and some asshole won't leave his post..." he said with a unamused frown, with what one could guess as bad memories conjured in his mind.

The black clad and black haired boy forced the doused handkerchief under the woman's nose, her body quickly relaxing and the glowing tattoos on her body simmering down. As she collapsed to the floor, he made a similar try at escape, running out of the window and skating down the side of the building. He felt a bullet clip his clothes, but heard no noise, leading him to believe that they were using high quality silencers, something almost nonexistent in a hunter's arsenal. For the next minute, Ren thought he had evaded them, hopping from the roof and making a fairly long jump onto a much shorter building, but realized four bodies were right behind him with parachutes. Getting a better look of them, he recognized them as mercenaries, people who either grew up fighting Grimm and or people and or at some point received combat training to become a huntsmen or huntress, but found more potential and freedom in a private, sometime unsavory line of work. Given the circumstances of their appearance, their line of work had to be in the unsavory category.  
He ran away. As long as they didn't see his face, there was nothing that could be used to accuse Vale or Beacon of treason or trespassing, but the four mercenaries were trying their damnedest to catch him. He hopped roof top to roof top, every few moments an attack occurred where Ren would defend and attack back, but never commit enough to leave an opening before running on. This continued for a long time before taking the chase far from the center of the city and ending up somewhere in the eastern ghettos when they flanked him and engaged him with much more prejudice.  
The first to start it was a man with a machete and large physique. His attire matched the other three to a t, with black winter wear covered in bits of kevlar and straps, and matching black ski masks to hide their identities. He popped up in front of Ren, swinging his machete out in a predictable manner, allowing Ren to dodge, but on a third swing, once Ren had positioned himself in a way that convinced him he was safe, the machete unfolded out to three times it's length, slamming into Ren's gut and knocking him back several feet. His scarf and hood fell off, revealing his face much to his anger and dismay.

"I know you" said the man's husky voice. "But it won't be for long" he finished, charging right at Ren.

The larger of the two brought down his equally larger sword down in a attack obviously meant to kill. Ren rolled in the gravel of the rooftop, dodging the attack, and only barely blocking the nasty back swing with both his now equipped weapons. Fighting in the moon light made it hard to see, especially with the many steam column rising from the streets to block the little bit of light, but it was enough to keep them dangerous. He rushed past the bulk of the sword to attack the man, but was met with a quick elbow to the face followed by another swing that clipped his cloak. The man was good Ren realized in fear.  
He tried for another go, but he was intercepted by the only woman of the four, one wielding a sai and a pistol blade. She caught one of his storm flowers and twisted him into a vulnerable position, then tried to fire a silenced round into his skull that he just barely managed to dodge and untangle from her web. With no time to catch a break, he felt a heavy thud against his shoulder as a silent sniper round hit him along with a second shot missing barely and hitting the brick wall behind him, but both shots perfectly missed his mercenary teammates. They fought smart Ren realized. He would have to fight smarter.  
He ran for the lower rooftop, planning on separating them. He weaved around the fourth member of the team, whom wielded a dagger revolver like that of Russel, and felt as more bullets caught his cloak before he fell to a lower height. The building spacing and design in this part of town was strange but beneficial to Ren, as the buildings themselves had next to no alley in between them, and the heights varied randomly between each other, making so that there were roof tops hidden in at least two directions by taller buildings, and even the roofs themselves were uneven, where one part would be several floors taller than the other. He knew he needed to take advantage of the poor line of sight.  
Hopping a few buildings until he lost direct sight of them, he hopped to a lower level of a roof and stepped back into the shadow directly below the ledge. He calmed his nerves with slow breathing, emptied his mind of useless thoughts, telling himself one thing:

'They plan on killing me. My options are as follows. Die, cause the next great war by incriminating Beacon and Vale, or kill them, leaving no evidence.' There really was but one option he believed. He needed to get into the zone.

The first mercenary jumped down from the ledge, the dagger one. Ren timed it so that his blades caught on the man's shoes, and yanked down hard. The dagger man's face smashed hard into the gravel rooftop, but before Ren could follow it up, the sword man plummeted down tip first, Ren side stepped it after unhooking from the dagger man, then had to immediately make his way up to the next rooftop as the last two mercenaries hailed bullets on him. Getting to the tallest rooftop he could in short notice, he laid near the edge to hide himself, opening fire on the sai and pistol blade girl once she tried propelling herself up onto the ledge. She took a couple shots to her kevlar armored chest, allowing her to fall back down to retreat. From the side, the sword man hopped over the railing and hacked at Ren who blocked, then kneed the boy in the face. He tried shooting the man, but a sniper bullet hit his gun, not knocking it out of his hand but stopping his attack. Ren jumped down once more, then circled around the roofs tops in hopes to intercept the sniper. As he danced around several bullets and ambushes by the sai girl, he tasted blood on his lips, and his vision became obscured. Rubbing his eyes, he saw the blood on his hands that came from his bleeding forehead that ran into his eyes. His focus grew clearer. Every sound was amplified, his panting, the footsteps, someone reloading, the exhaust fans on every rooftop, a car running in the street, the sound of the cold air rushing by, someone else's breathing...  
Spotting the sniper, Ren used the chimneys spread about to avoid being shot, rushing his way to the ledge where he leapt from the railing on a crash course with the sniper. The man took aim, but stopped. The dagger man instead intercepted Ren mid air and sent them flying off to another rooftop, where they wrestled for dominance. Ren hooked the dagger man's namesake weapon and peeled it out of his hand, but still on the bottom of the wrestling match, pushed at the mans face as the man tried to strangle Ren. Ren forgoing all manners of conduct shoved his right hand weapon into the man's armpit where he couldn't grab it quick enough, and emptied the clip. Any aura the man had wasn't enough. His right sleeve and shoulder had the warm feel of spilt blood, and the dagger man's body convulsed off of Ren. 

'One down.'

Ren grabbed the dagger that belonged to the now dead body and put away his empty gun to wield it. A blink later and the sai girl and sword man charged at him from different angles, prompting him to return to his original plan and attack the sniper. As he rolled and made a ran for it, the sword man clipped his left leg, leaving a warm feeling Ren ignored. The sniper moved he found out, spotting him on another roof top of which he ran for. The sai girl intercepted him again, but Ren didn't panic.  
He made a straight stab attempt with the dead man's dagger, she caught it in her sai and yanked it from his hand, but he let go before she could twist him with it, punching her in the face in line with his original attack. Barely flinching, she swiped with her pistol blade, but Ren crossed arms and punched it with his loaded storm flower and kneed her in the side using the torque generated from the hard block. He ejected himself from the confrontation once he heard the sword man touch down on his rooftop and saw no openings left in the sai girls defenses. He twirled around her slash and picked up the dagger from the ground and booked it again, finding that the sniper moved closer to his location this time for a shot. He blocked the shot at the cost of the dagger flying out of his hand, disappointed he couldn't utilize the four rounds left in the chambers. 

'I have to hand it to team CRDL, if there's one thing there good at, it's blocking bullets.' Ren envied their practiced skill in that regard.

Running around a large chimney, he reloaded his empty storm flower in two swift motions and popped around the corner to see the sniper. He threw a rock he picked up at the man, buying him the necessary second to avoid getting shot again and to close the distance. Unfortunately, the man shot anyways at the cost of accuracy and hit Ren. Ren's charge was screwed up and instead of a calculated attack, he instead slammed into the sniper and both fell from the roof, falling for a couple seconds before breaking though a green house glass sun roof. The man underneath Ren landed with half of his body on the thick wooden part of a tall box planter filled to the brim with dirt and potatoes, and Ren landed on him. The two of them rolled over in pain and the man himself had the wind knocked out of him. Ren got up first, and taking advantage of the man as he used the large planter to support himself, grabbed said man's head and slammed it repeatedly into a nail sticking out of the wood. On the sixth smash, the man's face gave up the ghost and ceased to exist, and Ren could feel his face was even wetter than before.

'Two down.'

But the victory was short lived. He heard a metallic ting sound from up above, so he grabbed his storm flowers as quick as he could, threw the man's silenced sniper rifle over to the over side of the planter closest to the walls and hopped over to meet right back up with it. As he landed on the other side, he suspicions were confirmed when a well timed grenade exploded right before it hit the ground. Normally, a aura user can withstand higher decibels of sound without blowing out their ear drums, a perk that falls right in line with the 'defends user from direct harm', but even so, a grenade going off in an enclosed room, especially when the aura user in question has little aura defending them, damage to one's hearing will happen.  
His balance wobbled horribly as he stood up, his ears rang and gave no indication of anything else other than blood running from them, the air tasted of dirt, potatoes, sulfur and a bloody mist that was once the sniper, and all the glass in the room was in pieces. He ran like a drunkard out the door with a storm flower in one hand and the sniper rifle in the other, having the worst possible difficulty opening the busted door with filled hands and little balance. He stumbled down a stair way, finding his exit in another stairway going up. He found himself on the roof again, but didn't wait. He found a secluded part of a roof where he sat down in hopes to start hearing again, but only heard the ringing. His balance came back a little, but recovery wise was cut off when both remaining mercenaries flanked him again.  
His eyes dilated to fine point, breath ragged and bloody along with the rest of his being, barely standing and the throbbing pains of injury catching up to him, Ren was there, but not in mind. Everything was about winning in the moment.  
As the two ran at him, he jumped to another rooftop with a higher elevation, where he peppered bullets at their dark profiles, landing a few on their bodies, but to little affect as the kevlar coupled with aura negated any significant damage. They split up again, making another attempt to flank him. Ren's defensive abilities were hampered enough by not being able to hear any incoming attack that he took the offensive again and chased after the direction the sai girl went, seeing as he still has to worry about her ranged capability. He ran off the roof just as she scaled over the ledge leaving them staring each other down as they touched back down onto solid ground, where then she hopped back over the ledge and fell straight down to avoid lagging in Ren's sights. Charging at him, he raised the rifle with both hands, leading her to approach at an angle toward the chimney he stood by while shooting her pistol. He ducked behind a chimney he put himself near for exactly this reason, and taking a huge gamble, flipped to the other side of the brick obstacle and slammed down the butt of the gun, catching noting but air. She went over the top of the chimney and almost stabbed him through the head had he not back stepped in time, where then he watched her eyes and saw them flicked upwards for only an instant. Not even bothering with looking himself, Ren back stepped again and was rewarded when the sword man stomped on nothing but roof and had to recover from the long fall. He emptied the rifle's clip on the man but the girl used the chimney to avoid it all. The man wasn't too staggered either, having used his wide and long blade to cover his exposed bits like his face.  
The two ran at Ren, whom flipped the rifle and held it by it's barrel, and slung it over his shoulder like a club while he equipped his own weapon back in his left hand. He sprayed the bullets at the charging foes, the man as expected blocking his share of shots while the girl sidestepped in closer to Ren, where he made a weak attempt to slash her with his pistol and used the same movement to whip the rifle around his neck as he had watched all Ruby, Nora, and Pyrrha done so many times. The sai girl took the bait and parried the slash of the storm flower only to instantly have the rifle butt bash her in the face and stagger her.  
Her teammate coming in to rescue her swung his mighty machete at Ren in a dangerous uppercut that caught on Ren's cloak as he back stepped again. The angled uppercut flowed into a horizontal slice, a move that flowed so naturally that there was no way that Ren couldn't read the telegraphing before it even begun, allowing him the time to prop the rifle's butt against his left shoulder as he held the barrel high above his head. He ducked into the attack, the machete burying itself into the plastic stock of the rifle and catching on the receiver, providing an ample opening for Ren to make a single attack before the sai girl makes another appearance. He let go of the barrel, equipping his second storm flower in one fluid motion and peppered the man once more with feeling, landing enough good shots that he could tell that the man felt it. He ran dry of bullets though, and both mercenaries could tell.  
Rolling into a sprint, the black haired and bleeding boy ran up a short wall to get into a less claustrophobic rooftop to fight, where in with his moment of respite, he transformed his right hand weapon into it's short sword form while keeping his left in it's pistol dagger form. It was time to get slick.  
The two mercenaries hopped onto the roof, except their approach was different. They were aware of the danger at this point, and all combatants involved had taken some punishment one way or another. They weren't Grimm after all, and while they had a motive and task, they valued their lives too. This time, they circle strafed around Ren slowly, the girl on his right, the man on his left. They closed in slowly as well, making sure to stay on opposite sides of him. He kept his eyes cast at the ground, letting his peripheral to keep both in his sights. At the same time, she raised her pistol to fire as he circled his sword around to slam down in a extreme manner. The boy in the middle shot towards the girl and hooked onto her wrist with his left weapon, whipping around and tossing her over his shoulder right into where the man's swords was heading. He slowed down his attack the best he could, but his machete still met the girls chest armor with some force, causing her to curl up into a fetal position and roll away to stand up out of the way of Ren's reach. In the moments where she was harmless, Ren shot forward like a bullet again at the man, stepping onto the lowered blade and whacking his left arm with his sword form, pushing him back. Switching back to his regular machete form, the man left his left hand open for grapples and quick strikes, but didn't adjust his strategy quick enough, as Ren took the transformation period to pressure the man back some more, unleashing a fury of quick strikes and stabs and slashes, eventually tripping him off the edge onto another roof.  
Doubling back, Ren ran at the girl who fully recovered from her friendly fire, scaring her in the process. Her fear of him was her last mistake. With the sai in her right hand, she stabbed at the advancing Ren. He dropped his left hand weapon entirely, sidestepping just enough to grab her wrist as it came at him, and without loosing the momentum of the attack she started, he spun as he held her wrist, lining the back of her arm with the back of his, shoulder to shoulder, almost neck to neck, and reached around his own neck with his right hand sword, holding the blade hard against her neck as he spun clockwise and to his right. From the time she attacked to the time her throat opened up, not a full second elapsed.

'Three down.'

"Shit... I guess there's no other way then huh?" the large man bemoaned. "If I kill you though, I can only dream of the pay raise. One gamble after another..." The words were lost on Ren, his hearing still just ringing.

Ren grabbed his second storm flower. They circled each other even slower than before, stances totally different. With one enemy left, Ren had both his weapons as short swords, and his knees were primed for some acrobatics. With the chase over and no backup, the man had his regular machete in his dominant right hand and his open right, and his posture sideways with the blade out first.  
Ren's black cloak fluttered like a flag in violent wind as he pressured his opponent, dodged his opponents attacks, and danced like he was the violent wind. Three quick strikes, all blocked, a heavy cleave by the man that Ren ducks, and a lower horizontal cleave follows, Ren jumps over it and over the man entirely, blocking the one eighty spin the man makes with crossed storm flowers, then twists his blades to reorient himself to land on his feet. Once down and crouched, the man stabs the ground Ren stood on, the boy rolling into the man's right flank, where the man attempts a pummel strike. Ren rested the flat of his right blade on his left shoulder once more, hard blocking the pummel and rising with an uppercut of his own this time, slashing upwards with his left blade and catching the man's chin, forcing him to back off for a moment. The machete swung then stabbed, both attacks too short in range to catch Ren, who tried to use the down time on the man's stab to close in, but had to duck under and through to avoid the man's left hand.  
Another cleave, a crossed block by Ren, a left hook, dodged, Ren bury's his foot into the man's crouch, he head butts Ren, two cleaves that Ren deflects, the second leaving the man's right arm open. He takes a stab at it, but doesn't penetrate the skin, but whittles away at the man's ever decreasing aura. The backswing transforms the machete into it's long form in an attempt to catch Ren in his back step, but he jams his left blade into the folding process, throwing the man off balance, allowing a solid strike on the man's head with the back side of his right storm flower.  
He pulls away, planning the next few moves based on the man's movement. He sees it. The man's feet shift as if to swing upwards with his two handed machete, upwards and to Ren's left. He sees it. Ren darts forward. The man swings as predicted, and even tries to drag the edge along the ground to delay the attack to catch Ren off guard, but Ren sees the end of the tunnel. The swing comes whizzing upwards, Ren ducks under and to his left, the back swing comes as a low horizontal to Ren's right. He sees what to do. Using his blades combined, Ren strikes the edge of the machete with the edges of his blades, the edges bite into each other. He sees it. Ren utilizes the man's unstoppable momentum to lock his blade with his, then continuing on the path of his strike, carries the three blades over his head in an arc, slamming the machete down as it twists in the man's hands, pulling him down with the awkward turn and redirection, leaving him wide open for the end. Ren sees it.  
He jumps up, both blades free, and thusly plunges them twenty inches deep into the man's exposed collar area, twists the blades, and pulls apart. 

'Four. I win.'

Ren collapses under the weight of the large man, falling onto his back, the man on top. The blood and fluids poured from the man unto the boy's chest, warm and steaming upon contact with the freezing air. Ren blacked out. He laid there motionless for what felt like at least fifteen minutes, his hearing finally returning to him. Unfortunately, feeling in the rest of his body came back too, which made him realize the serious condition he fought in. His forehead was split open early on, his left leg was cut into about half an inch, a bullet hole made it's way through the far left of his chest cavity, several ribs were broken, and his hands bled from all the force they sustained. His breath ran ragged still even after his long rest, and the pain only made him breathe less, as any movement screamed pain. He felt lucky that it was so cold and that the several gallons of blood on him were freezing and making him numb. He started to talk to himself as he laid there.

"That was... easy." He chuckled. He immediately regretted chuckling. "Killing? One just... needs a good reason. I think I had a good reason... I don't know about you" he spoke to the sky, "but I feel no remorse over ending their lives. I think it's because of the pain though... enough pain makes any retribution seem legitimate... owwwwwww.... I mean... they attacked me, they chased me, they fought four on one... screw them... I refuse to feel bad about killing them... does this mean I can join the... something or another club? Let's see... Ruby killed people, Blake helped kill Fox, uh... Jaune stabbed a guy, but I don't know if it was lethal... so... if Jaune's counts... then that means I'm the... turning point. Out of the eight of us... I mark the halfway point..." 

Ren's delirious mumblings to himself continued for awhile as he pondered the fact that he finally took another's life, and four at that. He found it disturbingly funny that he couldn't care less about the fact, rather disappointed actually that the 'moral' after effects he had seen others fight so much just breezed past over his head. He figured appropriately that the copious amount of pain he was in probably had a hand in giving no sympathy to his aggressors.  
Pulling him from his delirium, he saw the stealth copter fly over head. Playing dead, he reached into his back pouch where he held his mission items, and cut his hand on the broken bottle of chloroform that soaked the pouch. He was grateful the latest in scroll technology included waterproof designs. A little painful digging and he finally found the handkerchief, pulled it close to his chest, then closed his eyes.  
The pilot landed the small copter on a adjacent rooftop. He first went to the large man and Ren, believing both to be dead. He crouched down, muttering expletives and concerns about 'reports' and 'backlash', oblivious as Ren reached up with the cloth and knocked him out. Pushing the body off of him, Ren stood up. He decided to mark this day as the single most, second worst day in his life. He was freezing, bleeding, tore, shot, cut, broken, hungry, and tired, all at the same time, and he still had a fair bit of work to do.  
First, he tied the pilot up. Second, he found the first aid in the copter. He wrapped his wounds and injected himself with morphine. It still hurt, but at least he could focus... kind of. Third, he dragged the three bodies over the roof tops into the copter. Fourth, he tore out the GPS in the dash board, making so that no one could track him. Fifth, he copied down the frequencies on the radio and the copter serial code into his scroll. Sixth, he doped himself even more with morphine and cried for a few minutes as the pain died down a little. Seventh, he read through the flight instruction manual in the pilots glove compartment for a quick run down of controls. Eighth, he flew the copter into the air as well as a drunk walks a tightrope, and landed on another roof to get the last body that resembled a body, the dagger man. Ninth, he flew the copter near the edge of the ice in the bay. Tenth, he called Glynda.

"H-hi... Glynda..." he said in an utter daze.

"Mr. Ren?" she replied in confusion.

"I'm just... warning you, tsk, that I, am, getting rid of some... evidence... and I will be home... eventually..." he said real slowly.

"What?"

"Yeaaahhh... I killed like... four people... and I have someone you can interrogate... I think that's a plan right?" he droned on. Glynda was petrified on the other side, and before she could respond, Ren finished off "good. It's a plan, see you tonight..."

"Wait Re-" he hung up.

He wrapped the pilot in an emergency tarp that was in the ship, then set it to accelerate forward off the ice and into the water with the three bodies tied down. As it skidded slowly across the ice, Ren limped out of the ship dragging the tarp by a rope, and spent a good long while dragging the pilot from the middle of the bay all the way back to the central tower. It was four in the morning by the time he made it back, his face completely smeared with blood from his attempts to rub his eyes to keep from falling unconscious on the way there.  
Dreading the last few steps, Ren climbed into the sewers with the torn and ripped tarp still holding the pilot whom he had to re-knock out multiple times, got into the central tower basement, and ignored everything around him except his destination and the fact that the security cam power lines were all cut, making his job that much easier. He hit the 'bf' button on the service crews panel to the elevator he was going to use, which call the elevator down to below public use levels, and opened up the elevator from the bottom. He stuffed the body through the hole, lifted himself inside as well, closed the bottom, then hit the floor level their apartments were on.  
The door opened up to a clean hallway, and his team's apartment door was already open, making his job that much easier, and he limped into the apartment, closed the door, puked out his guts onto the tarp, then laid down on the couch and passed out.

-End Chapter 17-


	18. Social Etiquettes, Ignored

8:27 o'clock. It didn't take long for certain members of team RWBY to make a mockery of the masquerade.

"Come on Yang! Come on! You got another half minute to go!" Ruby barked and egged on Yang whom was munching down on the salted crackers.

"Come on Loraine! She's just a underclassmen! Show her whose boss!" shouted Victor, childhood friend and partner to the third year Loraine of Beacon, member of team ANVL, also stuffing salted crackers into her mouth.

Those four along with Neptune and Scarlet, along with Ben and Nola from team BNSH, stood around the snack table cheering on the two competitive huntresses in a contest to see who could eat more salty crackers in a minute's time. As the minute came to a close, the young adults jumped up and down in fighting spirit, counting down the last five seconds.

"Five!" they started.

"Yang! I order you to win!" 

"Four!"

"Chew faster!" Victor shouted.

"Three!"

Blake looked on to the passing commotion and face palmed.

"Two!"

"Oh! That looks like fun..." Nora commented from across the room.

"Just... no" said Ren.

"One!"

Coco elbowed Velvet lightly with a chuckle, saying "hey, remember when Yatsy choked doing that, and passed out?"

Velvet sighed. "I remember having to explain to the nurse..."

"OHHHHHH!!!" the boys and girls cheered while Loraine took a long swig of red punch and Yang hacked up wheat dust and salt.

"Seven! I counted seven crackers. Get wrecked son!" Loraine's partner exclaimed to the rivals, waiting for their count.

"Shit... four..." Ruby moaned in defeat. "Well at least Yang's..." Ruby stared blankly into the distance, drawing an equal blank on any comebacks, instead initiating another challenge. "I bet you that Yang can fit more crackers in her mouth!" she bragged.

The white haired girl finished her second cup of punch and laughed with her gravelly voice, shooting back "we all know that Yang has a big mouth, no need to prove it."

"OH BURNED!" Neptune hollered.

Ruby put a lady like hand to her chest, "tsk tsk, don't you know, Yang is fireproof." A murmur of approval sounded throughout the group.

The white haired girl rolled her eyes and laughed as she itched the scar tissue just above her dress line on her collar bone. "Well not all of us can be fire proof, now can we?" She said it with jest and humor, but it made the others shift uncomfortably. Even Ruby somewhat, but not enough to stop her from driving the topic further.

"I know your pain." Ruby pointed to her missing right eye, "do you know how many times I've stubbed my toes going through door ways? Oh, I don't get me started on the glasses of milk I've knocked over thinking they an inch farther than they were..." Yang recovered enough from her contest to give a small snicker, amused but also somewhat proud of Ruby's attitude towards her current state.

The eight of them talked for a little more about past injuries, most never comparing to those Loraine sustained, some of her graver experiences actually making Scarlet and Ben nauseous during their recollections. Once the fun had been had and a slower instrumental piece started, the white haired girl lowered her turtle mask and bid them farewell, taking to the dance floor. Following suit, many others felt comfortable enough to join the ranks in the middle of the room and slow danced, including Yang and Ruby.

"Ugh, I can't stand talking to her..." Yang groaned to her sister.

"What, Loraine?" Ruby asked in surprise.

"Yeah, hyperhemics are just... I hate the thought of one being a hunter, the thought's just painful."

Ruby squinted in thought, failing in her attempt to remember what that word meant exactly. "What- what was a hyperhemic again?" she asked as she stepped all over Yang's feet.

The blonde sighed as she tilted her head. "Lets see, quickest way to describe it... it's a condition, a birth defect where a person doesn't get any shielding from their aura no matter what they do, instead their aura's efforts are put to rapid regeneration since it's not being used for anything else. Most with hyperhema don't even think about being huntsmen or huntresses, but Loraine is one of the exceptions. Just the- fuck, it's painful thinking about it. Just imagine every time you got shot, the skin would heal over the bullet and a surgeon has to remove the lead after the fact so you don't get poisoned any more than you already would." The brawler rubbed her knuckles against her sister's back. "Or how about every time I punched something, the bones in my hand would shatter and then get forced back into position as they locked back together. There's a reason why she can eat so much..."

"Heh, you're getting pale-"

"-Shut up. By the way, did I mention how scary you look?" Yang commented, admiring the handiwork of the outfit as she said so.

The younger sister gave the other an annoyed stare. "No Yang, no one tonight has yet to tell me how scary I look, thank you for revealing this to me when no one else would" she sarcastically spat out. 

"Your welcome, I try" the blond grinned. "I bet you can't dance with anyone else with how scary you look..." 

Ruby shrugged. "I don't want to dance really..." She wasn't completely honest, but not entirely lying either. She would've like to dance with a couple select people of course, but otherwise was uninterested.

"Ah, I get it, I shouldn't pry" Yang smirked, "I don't know why I suggested such a thing, it was insensitive really..."

The younger sister gawked at the other. "What are you talking-?"

"I'm sorry Ruby, I know you're incapable of getting out of your comfort zone, can't meet people, things like that..." Bait laid.

"Am not. I bet you I can get a dance partner in no time flat!"

"Can't be someone we know..."

"Of course! Just watch!" Ruby disengaged from her sister, storming further into the dancing crowd for a partner with confidence. 

Yang laughed to herself. "I can't believe she fell for it soooooo easily, I mean wow..."

The black clad wolf girl wadded through spinning couples, quickly realizing a flaw in her plan to find a stranger to dance with; why would a single person be in the middle? She turned to face the closest perimeter edge and walked on, her ragged cloth billowing behind her. As she approached where the singles mingled together without dance, she felt some one tap on her shoulder and said "hey man." She turned to face him, somewhat startled by being mistaken for a guy. She stared at Jack Vorst, a second passing before they both in sync said "what the fuck?"

"You?" he questioned her, taking a step back and grabbing his mechanical arm.

"'Hey man?' Do I look like a guy?" Personally, she felt offended. Ruby was quite proud of her shape and cup size.

"Well whose fault is it for dressing like one?" he whipped back, his smug and easily aggravating personality back in gear.

Ruby was at a loss for words as she jerked her arms about. "It's a- who- what- you- agh... it's a masquerade, people can dress however they want!"

"Yes, but everyone here at least attempts to dress in a fashionable manner, they try to look good, you... tsk tsk. Plus they don't dress like Grimm. Wait... aren't you a huntress? But you dress like a Grimm?" He gasped in a extravagant kind of way, "are you a Grimm sympathizer!? I should report you immediately!"

She growled a bit. "You want me to cut you again? I'll do it right now if you want..."

He gasped again, "you are, you are! A traitor in our midst!"

"Agh! I'm not dealing with this right now!" she shouted over her shoulder as she stormed away. Ruby couldn't appreciate how not alone she was in finding Jack annoying, his faux friendliness just grating on the nerves.

"Aww comeback Ruby, good friends always should catch up! Talk about boys and nail polish!" she heard him call out like a jackass to her. 

The rose swung around the room and met up with Blake and Ren separately, informing them both that Jack was in fact attending the ball. Both replied in such a way that told Ruby they already knew and had no good time of it. Taking refuge back at a snack table, Ruby stared at the wave like crowd, it's movements pulling one way than back again, like a tide. It lulled her into a bored trance, only scarce thoughts of trivial weapon's facts crossing her mind if she saw what looked like a weapon's designer. It took awhile for her to notice the boy standing next to her, sipping from a punch cup just as she was. 

She didn't bother with tact. "What are you doing here?" she asked, not seeing any particular reason why a presumably ten year old boy would be at a high profile ball.

"My uncle brought me" he answered simply. He was of brown hair and a lanky build, all of his baby fat gone as shown by his equally nondescript tuxedo. Ruby didn't bother delving deeper, figuring that with enough famous people in one spot, someone had to bring a kid.

"Hmm." A moment passed in silence. "Did he bring a date for you as well?" she teased him, somewhat mocking too; Jack left a bad aftertaste on her mood.

The boy nodded 'no'. "But he says that I should find a huntress girl. He says they're something special..." the boy said with little embarrassment, rather just a clear lack of understanding of his uncle's words that the boy was self aware of.

"Hmm." Another moment passed. "What about me?" she asked, amused by the thought of his answer or possibly reactions.

He remained silent as the music shifted from it's slow pace to a quicker jaunt, finally answering, somewhat afraid, "you're mask is scary..."

Ruby sighed. 'I just got shut down by a ten year old.' "You could do worse kid." They remained several feet apart for a while, staring at the moving crowd, now disorganized in it's movements as the music followed no obvious or as strong of patterns, meant more for passing the time. Ruby remained bored looking while the boy indifferent. She got too bored. "What's your name?" she asked.

"John" he answered quietly. Ruby laughed. "What?" he asked.

"That's probably the simplest name I've heard in the past decade John. Mine's Ruby."

"Nice to meet you" he answered back politely.

"Likewise."

"..."

"...

"What about you? Where's your date?" John asked.

She shrugged. "Don't have one."

"Why?"

"I don't know... I'm not woman enough I guess is the best way to explain it me thinks."

"I'm sorry."

"Don't worry John, I can't imagine it's much better for you. I mean, what is a boy supposed to do at a boring dance ball thingy? I feel sorry for ya..." she sipped at her punch. She put the cup down once she thought out the inevitable consequences of drinking so much. She didn't want to have to leave early. Though then again she wouldn't mind too much.

"Usually I go back to my room..." he confessed somewhat sad.

"Your room?" Ruby lost the context in which they were speaking in.

"Yeah, I live in the tower" he said as if there was nothing odd about it.

She pondered the information given, eventually asking "how often do you attend these things?"

"Well they say I need to learn how to talk to people, so I have to go to most of these things" he almost mumbled. He was quite adorable really when he talked, especially with how he was almost pouting but was keeping a respectable face just to seem polite. It was clear he didn't want to be there.

"You live here huh? Your family has to be somewhat important I imagine..."

"What about you? You don't seem to like it either."

Ruby laughed. "You read me like a book kid. Last time I attended one of these, I walked out. Wish it was to my room though."

Out of the corner of her eye she could see his face light up a little. He turned to her and asked something that caught her quite off guard. "Do you want to see my room?"

"What?" she replied flatly.

"I'm sorry, if you don't want to, I just..." he clammed up. He did't break down or get upset or anything, he just turned back to looking at the crowd, looking a little embarrassed and a tad disappointed.

Ruby never took her eye off of the dancers and socializing people. She looked at the foot work, the elaborate costumes, the social etiquette, the combat of grace and dance fought on the battlefield of a marble ballroom floor. It all made Ruby feel tired and out of depth. 'Screw it' she thought. "No, it's okay. Yeah, I wanna see your room."

His face lit up again and he happily lead the way to the elevators, a slight spring in his step. A short ride down to the middle section of the building opened up to a hallway, sparsely populated with doors. From what Ruby could judge, these were the full sized rooms meant for important people with families to house, which made her question his lineage even more. She knew she could ask, but a paranoia filled her if someone was to ask about the situation she was in, a scene playing out in her head; 'So you convinced a young and impressionable wealthy boy to take you into his high class home and asked information about his family...', but the thought took an even darker turn when upon entering the home it was apparent no one else was home, '...and roamed freely in said home totally unsupervised and intruding on the owner's privacy alone with a poor young boy...' She put away her paranoia in the belief that nothing bad would really happen.

"Where are your parents?" Ruby asked.

The boy shrugged. There was much shrugging this night Ruby noticed. "I don't know" he stated.

Weiss came to mind. "Hmm." She looked around, this time at the home itself instead of looking for signs of life. "It's very nice" she told the boy.

A short hallway from the door opened up into a welcoming living room with no discernible electronics other than holobooks, but plenty of sitting room for those looking to read or rest with nice plushy couches wrapping around the den. Attached to it was a dining room with a rather large kitchen adjacent of course. All warm colors totally juxtaposed with the cold gray and white monochrome of outside the windows, with nice carpeting and warming to boot. Speaking of which.

"They don't like it when people wear shoes, so..." he suggested, still very polite. 

Ruby looked at her combat boots. "Fair point." She left them by the door way. Passing through the dining room, she saw the center plate on the table lined with cookies, leaving only one option to her. "Would you mind if...?" she pointed to the cookies.

"Go ahead" he said, and on his word she grabbed a cookie and thusly it disappeared into her mouth.

After the dining room to it's left was an office that looked out to the balcony, an office that was composed of a large polished wooden desk, a computer, two shelves, an elaborate chair with a blanket laid over it and completely hiding the apparent cost of it, a file cabinet, and a small locked liquor cooler. Walking on past the office lead to a narrow hallway with four doors, one of which the boy lead Ruby through. His room was clearly different from the rest of the home.  
His walls were painted blue with starry night stickers making it a cartoonish replica of the sky, he had a small bed tucked away in a corner with a little action figure lamp on the bedside table top, simple white shelves holding many toys lining the walls and a closet with colorful sets of clothing befitting a young boy. The window in the room had a white window sill with what appeared to school books, unkempt and frizzled around the edges. What really caught her eye however was the two foot long steel short sword sitting in the corner, battered and chipped. 

"What do you think?" he asked all shy like, anticipating her response.

She nodded her head in approval. "I like it" she answered honestly, his room being one of solace and sanctum, one of childhood. He smiled.

"You want to see a hat I got?" 

"Yeah sure..." she saw no reason not to.

He pulled out a drawer from his closet and put it on his bed, pulling out with a dimpled smile a yarn hat sowed to look like a raccoon's face with a little black button nose and bead eyes, whiskers and striped colors of white and dusty brown. "I call him Rascal..."

"That's cute, you like him?" Ruby prompted, petting the fuzzy fabric in his hands.

"Yeah, I have a few more like him." He put the hat on and pulled a couple more from the bin, showcasing what looked like a cat hat, fox hat, and bunny hat, their names "Tommy, Cooper, and Eggsy" in that order. "I tried making my own, but I can't figure out the trick yet" he confessed, pulling out a fifth hat, one he had tried to sow himself. "It's going to be a lion, and I'm going to name him Alex, but I'm having trouble understanding the book's instructions..."

Ruby took the half done hat and looked it over, reminiscing her younger days. "Well you should keep at it, tailoring is an important skill, no doubt about it." She pulled the lion hat over the boy's raccoon hat, "you'll get it eventually" she told him.

"Do you sow?" he asked, taking the hats off and stuffing them back into the drawer.

"As a huntress, it's very important to know how to make your own clothing, or at least know basic stitching. Weiss doesn't do any of that, but Blake and Yang know a fair bit. I'm the best though..." Ruby grinned to herself.

"Are those your teammates?"

"Yep."

"Huh..." his eyes darted to the closet where he pulled out another drawer, this time with colorful play guns that shot little foam darts. "Is it true that a hunter can kill with any sort of weapon, like, even things you wouldn't think or couldn't normally-" he rambled quickly and excitedly.

She sat down on the bed and grabbed one of his toy guns, "you mean could I kill something with a toy?" 

"Yeah!" 

She pulled the plunger back on the toy and shot him in the forehead, the foam dart bouncing off harmlessly, saying in mock disappointment "unfortunately no it seems. Our jobs would be much easier though if we could, now wouldn't it?"

"Well... that hit harder than it usually does though..." he noticed in curious afterthought.

"That's because when a person with unlocked aura clings to immediate objects, they became resilient and tougher like them. This toy here, " she started pointing to the different parts of the gun, confident she knew how it worked, "this toy uses a spring that pushes on a plunger that sits in an enclosed tube, causing air to force the dart to fly out forwards, makes sense?"

"Yeah" he answered, listening in rapt attention.

"When a aura user holds onto something like this, the spring stiffens up, the plastic becomes stronger, and the dart will retain a tougher form for a few seconds after it leaves my direct influence. Thus, the plunger draws back with greater force, the gun holds it's shape much better, and the dart hits literally harder as it doesn't resemble foam anymore but something harder."

"Wow, that's so cool... does that mean it's harder to draw the thing back then?"

Ruby thought about it. "It depends. It require more force to pull it, definitely, but the strength given by aura compensates to different degrees. Something like this requires no strength, but a real weapon will still kick and require force to use. Also it depends on the person."

"Huh."

She looked back to the sword in the corner. "Are you trying to unlock your aura?" 

He looked at the sword with a disdainful one, answering "yeah, training is really hard, and my teacher is pushing me to unlock it so that we can move on to harder stuff. How'd you unlock yours?" he asked optimistically.

"Rough housing with my sister. It comes differently from person to person, though I hear that some people can do it for other people..."

"Do you know anyone who can that?" he asked again, this time even more hopeful.

"Not that I know of." He looked dejected once more. She looked around the room, hoping to find something to take his mind off of his problems. "Oh! Say, where did you get all of those toys over there?"

He walked over to where she pointed, and started taking down the toy cars, little houses, and mini people from the shelf, smiling once more. "My mom had these when she was a kid. This is my favorite one" he said as he handed her a little red convertible. They were heavy in her hand, very old fashioned with cast iron bodies and hoods that opened up to show a detailed engine.

"Wow, I've seen these before, but I'm sure they're rare. Cool..."

"Yeah, it's a model k, they only made thirty of those cars."

"Oh? Then it must be valuable- what's this?" she gasped, grabbing a man out of the boy's hands. She got down to the floor onto her knees, putting the car down and sitting the mini man inside. "Oh no! It's getting stolen! Where are the cops in these times of tragedy?" She pushed the car away from John, the man making his escape in the red convertible.

He smiled from ear to ear. "Oh! Sherif Brown never fails! He's even got the nine cylinder interceptor!" Dropping to his knees, he chased Ruby's culprit in the police car around the carpet, setting up the mini buildings along the way to give perspective to the awesome burnouts going down in the chase. They went on like this, playing cat and mouse with the toys building up into a full environment for a good while, and once the chase ended, the sherif and the car thief duked it out on the roof tops.

"You'll never catch me!" Ruby cackled. 

"You won't get away today Shifty Eyed Bart the Burglar!" John heroically claimed.

Finally, it came down to a duel in the streets, both mini men with their guns at their hips, awaiting the toll of noon to draw and fire. Ruby and John laid on the ground, lining up their men to accurately point at each other, the ticking of the clock growing ever louder in their imaginations. Then John noticed something.

"Ding Dong! Poof! Click- John?" she said. He was staring at her, his face pensive and worried. "John?"

He was looking at her eye. He just noticed that he could see the silver iris around her black pupil on the left, but behind the black mask on the right he saw nothing but more black. "Wheres...?" he started, evidently confused.

Her smile slowly faded, but not entirely. Sitting herself on her knees, she took off the mask she forgot she was even wearing. Underneath was her black head band that protected her right eye. She awaited his response.

"Did you... did you lose your eye?" he asked slowly, aware that such a thing might be a sensitive subject.

"Yes" she smiled faintly.

"Did it hurt?"

"Yes."

"Does it still hurt?"

"Sometimes..."

"Did someone hurt you?" He spoke even slower, and quieter.

"Yes."

"Was it an accident?"

"No."

He stared at the fabric hiding her eye, intrigued and scared. "Here" she said, pulling off the headband as well, then leaned forward with both eyes closed. "Go ahead..."

It took a moment, but eventually the boy reached out as if to pet a dangerous animal. His right hand pointer finger ever so slightly touched the shut eyelid, to which Ruby shivered and he pulled away when the flaps of skin pressed in from his fingertip. He pulled away. "I'm sorry..."

She put the headband back on, still smiling. "It's okay."

"Why did they do it?"

She gave her response some thought. She sighed. "Because he was a bad bad man, and my death and pain would bring him happiness."

John looked down. "I wouldn't want you to be killed..."

"Thank you."

John looked at the floor for a while. She patted his head. "He's not mad at you..."

Ruby squinted in confusion. "Who?"

"Jack's not mad at you for last year..."

Ruby's jaw dropped on one side. Standing up, she spotted a flat frame on the shelf of which she flipped upright to see a family photo. A father, mother, James Ironwood, and two little boys. The identity of the little boys were obvious.

"Huh..." she sounded through a crooked jaw. "So Jack's your brother?"

"Yeah."

"Wait, he's not mad?" she was now confused in a different way.

"No." John continued looking down at the floor. "I visit him often at his place, and whenever I bring you up, he either avoids talking about it or never says anything bad. I... I was going to tell you I was mad at you, but once I found you, you just... you seemed like a good person..." She could see his flushed cheeks.

Taking the few steps closer, she patted the young boy on the head. "I'm sorry. And I forgive you for hating me..." he looked up to be met by her smile. "Now, who wants to learn how to knit?"

A while past where Ruby sat on his bed teaching him how to weave the needle through the patterns of yarn, and by the end, John was putting the finishing touches on his lion hat when Ruby nearly had a heart attack. Ironwood appeared in the doorway, raising Ruby's blood pressure and heart beat through the roof.

"Hello Ms. Rose" he greeted.

"Hey uncle James" greeted the boy.

Ruby bit her tongue in shock. "Whoa! Oh my- where did you- oh, hey..." her chest visibly heaved as she breathed deeply in a attempt to calm down.

"Clean up your room John, it's time she has to head back and you go to bed" he ordered, albeit softly and tender like.

"Awww..." moaned John. "Okay..."

"I imagine you have things to do upstairs as well Ms. Rose" he kindly suggested. Taking a hint, Ruby grabbed her mask and stood up ready to book it. Ironwood lead her to the front door where he stopped her however. "I imagine he told you, correct?"

She tilted her head to the side and looked to the ceiling, pretty sure she knew what he was talking about, but aware there could be other possibilities. She answered slowly and painfully "yeeessssss?" 

"I'm a little surprised, but I guess it was to be expected. See," he began, taking a swig of his flask that he kept in his coat pocket, "he was watching the live feed when you and Jack had the fight, and well... he was a little upset by what happened. After the fact, he could never figure out why his brother didn't share the same disdain for you as he did, but alas, he's a sweet kid. Once he got to know you, I'm not really surprised his mind changed." 

It took a bit to process the information, but she took it in stride. Once she was sufficiently caught up, she asked what was to her two important questions. "Someone like Jack, no offense, why is he so... mellow about the whole thing?" 

Ironwood waved a hand. "I don't know, that's something you should ask him."

"Okay... where are their parents?" Ruby was afraid of the answer, and Ironwood's blatantness didn't lessen the blow.

"My brother was a hunter who disappeared one day many years ago into the wilderness and his wife was a engineer who died in a factory accident when John was five."

Ruby gawked at the man. "Wow, you could've minced words at least a little, don't you think?"

He opened the door as John came back around. "I'm just glad he made a friend," he said, and just as he finished saying it, John hugged Ruby with gusto. The boy was a little more than a head shorter, but turned his head to the side when he hugged her to avoid any awkward positioning, and promptly Ruby hugged him back. They couldn't see it, but Ironwood too smiled just a bit.

A couple minutes later and a elevator ride up, Ruby reentered the ballroom all fresh and depressed, mumbling to herself as she went.

"Ah yeah, what a great world we live in, a world where the likely hood of a hunter in training having both parents is like asking for solid fucking gold furniture or some shit that actually makes sense. And what the fuck is with moms? Is there like a mom shortage? If I have a kid, do I have to worry about dying by some freak accident. Check it, I'll have a kid and ten minutes later, I promise you a piece of debris from some passenger ship will fall and kill me. I swear, it's going to happen! Stupid ball, and high heels, and dancing... I bet Ren and Blake are having the time of their lives right now, they got the fun job..."

"Are you talking to yourself Ruby?" Yang asked her sister.

"Yes Yang, what about it!?" she challenged. 

At that moment, Ruby thought she could hear Weiss's voice in the background, and sure enough, everyone else went silent and stared at the source of the commotion. Ruby began to panic.

"Wait, that's Weiss! What's going on? What happened Yang?"

"Wha? I don't know!"

"Ah shit shit shit, shitshitshit! Ah-"

Yang panicked too, "what do we do?"

"Uh... uh, WOO-HOO! GO WEISS!" Ruby shouted through her hands before clapping as loud as she could. To her amazement, within a minute everyone else was clapping too.

"Kay, what just happened?" Yang asked Ruby this time.

"The fuck if I know..." Ruby mumbled. "Oh, OH! Yang! This is Weiss's song!"

"Well time to dance then."

"Damn straight."

Ruby spotted Jaune immediately whom offered her a dance. She had high hopes at the start of the scenario; dancing with Jaune to Weiss's song at a ball, so on and so on, but once Ruby recognized the lyrics, she shut down. She hid her face in Jaune's shoulder, trying to hide from the words that were spoken, hoping the faint scent of Jaune's aftershave would distract her, but no true peace came to her in that moment.

Minutes from midnight. Ruby waited anxiously by the balconies, waiting for Blake and Ren to come back, pacing back and forth with Sun. Eventually, she saw Blake clamor up onto their level, giving a brief moment of relief, but stress remained. Many questions were to be asked, like where was Ren, what took them so long, and how did it go. 

Nothing was answered as a tremor was felt though out the building.

-End Chapter 18-

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You know that white haired Vale female student that sometimes crops up in the background, like at 4:18 of "A Minor Hiccup"? Well I always kinda liked her look, so decided to assign her as a (now) third year character. Loraine Faber, Loraine being the female version of Logan as far as I know, and yes, logan from X-Men is the inspiration, and Faber being the latin or french root/word for "one who works with iron". Themed colors are worn down gray and bits of black, plus polished rust. She is the 'L' in third year team 'ANVL'.  
> Victor a childhood friend of Loraine, the 'V' in 'ANVL'.
> 
> From my mouth(keyboard), here's my textbook definition of this fictional condition inside a fictional world.  
> Hyperhemic/Hyperhema: Hyper (beyond normal) + Hemo/Hema (blood). A person who has an unlocked aura, but lacks the protective shielding a usual person would receive from having unlocked said aura; instead, the aura of one's body is devoted to regenerating the body as it is harmed at a extremely accelerated rate. The meaning of this condition refers to the large quantities of blood a hyperemic will produce when seriously injured, also the bloody appearance one can take when seriously injured, as most hyperhemic's bodies reject old blood in turn for fresh blood.  
> I figure that there has to be people strange or off even by aura user standards, kinda like people whose blood doesn't clot or albinos.


	19. Interesting Tidbits, Noted

Yang watched as her pale friend stepped onto the stage, flustered as one could be. Yang was excited. Letting her little sister go off to Jaune somewhere on the dance floor, the brawler scuttled over to the snack tables and stood herself by Sun and Neptune.

"Are you ready for this?" she asked daringly to the two teens.

"I don't know; she might start a fight with that pianist" Neptune mused.

Sun chuckled, "why him? I mean the violinist are closer..."

He licked his fingers clean, "the pianist' tie is crooked."

The girl snapped her fingers. "Cheeky bastard. Guess we'll have to lynch him later..."

And so the singing started. Yang's heart dropped. She knew this song. Casey and Weiss' soft voices intwined between each other haunted the blonde. And she wasn't the only who felt the same. Looking down at the dance floor, she could see her younger sister hide in Jaune's chest.

The words were killing them softly,   
"Long ago, before we met, I dreamed about you.  
The peace you'd bring. The songs we'd sing.  
The way you'd make things new."

"Yang, you alright?" the boys whispered.

"No. Yes... don't worry about it..." she mumbled. 

The song went on, and memories of their home on patch flashed through her mind, memories of her father, a baby Ruby all sweet and innocent, Summer. The thought of Summer hurt, but as it was, it was as close to bringing tears to her eyes as the wishful thought that there might've been one day when her own blood mother felt like the singer in the song towards her. The thought of Summer's death hurt, and the thought of Yang's mother's deliberate abandonment of her own kin hurt.

"I will cling, I will clutch, I'll hold onto you, I won't turn away.  
I won't leave, I won't go, I will stay with you all our days."

Ruby probably was thinking something similar Yang thought. Summer was her mother after all, and she never had a chance to really make memories. How would have their live's been different had their mothers stayed around? Yang held back the tears of her imagination, a scene played out in which a younger Yang laid asleep on her faceless mother's chest, and the world held still in it's perfect warmth. Worse yet though, had she not been abandoned, Ruby wouldn't have been born.

"Years of joy have passed since then. With time I've seen you grow.  
Watched you play, new each day. I begged the time to slow."

'No' boiled Yang inside her mind. A world without Ruby frightened her, the time they spent as kids was too valuable, it was priceless. She hated her mother for leaving her, but it was the best thing that could've happened to her, for if it wasn't for that, Yang wouldn't have Ruby. But Summer...   
The blank woman's face became that of Summer's, and next to the young Yang was a even younger Ruby, both fast asleep. 

"And though I miss the little girl, you've made me awful proud.  
Funny how our lives change, 'cause you're my hero now."

The blond felt a timid rage burn for her own mother, a woman she imagined never being able to say anything like the words Weiss sung. But Summer... she pictured her singing to her two little girls, and thusly, the brawler teared up.

Once the song ended, Ruby found her sister. For a moment they looked at each other with a mute understanding, then embraced for a long hug.

11:49. Yang all but stated she was ignoring the tall woman trying to talk to her. The woman said her name was Gwen Rush, a lead project designer for the Excalibur weapons company. She not being one of the people Yang was supposed to talk to, the younger of the two had little interest in idle gossip and as such waited for the end of the party to come.

"Oh that Ozpin is just such a gentlemen!" she laughed to herself, hand to her chest in an exasperated gesture.

Yang looked the other way in Nora's direction while she continued her inflectionless replies dipped in extra sarcasm, saying "Yep. That Ozpin sure know's how to make a person's day..."

"If I wasn't already married, well!" the woman drunkly insinuated. "Hey! You know my son? He went to Beacon, his name's Lance!"

Yang wasn't too uninterested anymore, but it figured that a huntsmen might have a parent involved in making Hunter's weapons. "Yeah. Good guy" she answered honestly but still flatly.

"Ah such a sweet boy... you know he helped me get in contact with Ozpin? Heh, after that talk, I was so..." she paused, then changed gears. Yang questioned why she didn't help herself as well to the copious amount of wine the party provided. "I thought 'hey! I think I'll give this guy a discount!' and then he gave me specifications, and he even mentioned you by name!"

Yang broke from her thousand yard stare and glared at the woman. "What did you say?"

"Which is why I wanted to talk to you" she drawled, "how does fifty foot pounds of recoil work for you?"

"Wait what?"

Someone tapped her shoulders. "Excuse me..." sounded off a commanding voice, sending shivers down the blonde's back.

Turning around, Yang had to look up to meet the face of a man. Long black coat, bull's mask, and red hair showing from the back. "Yes?" she weakly answered. 

"Would you happen to know where a certain Ms. Belladonna is? I hear you are her partner and I have business with her...." he spoke coldly, almost threateningly.

It took a moment, but the brawler recognized this man. The mention of Blake connected the dots, and images of a doodle in her partner's diary matched roughly the tall figure standing before her. Yang assumed the worse, meaning that this man was most likely dangerous. "Yeah, I know where she is..." Yang replied cheerfully. Even if she was wrong, anyone looking for Blake had to be lead astray. "I think she went to fix her dress in our room. I can take you there if you want..."

The man looked to the side before saying "yes" rather tersely.

"Alright, let's go!" The blonde made her way to the elevators, her eyes scanning furiously for a teammate she could grab on the way there, and in the end only found Nora. It was more than enough she thought as she greeted her with a wink. "Hey Nora, I didn't bring my room key, you got your's right?"

Nora put down her drink when she saw the wink. She didn't know what was going on, who the tall dark man was, or why Yang was lying about not having her key, but she knew she had to play along. "Yeah, I got mine."

"Can I borrow it?"

"Yeah sure." Nora handed over the key.

"Thanks, see ya later! After you..." Yang gestured to the man. As he continued on, Yang paddled her hand behind her as to say 'come with me'. Nora understood that much.

"Oh wait!" the ginger exclaimed as she joined Yang and the tall man. "I just remembered that I left something in the room, let me come with!"

As she said it, Yang could feel how suspicious it was, and so tried to play it off as more real. "Oh? Well I can get it for you if you want, what is it?"

Without missing a beat, Nora retorted "oh well... I can't say it out loud..." as she looked abashed. Yang was impressed by the play.

"Alright then, here's your key then, lead on."

They approached the elevators and called one up, both girls on their guard for they both noticed an ominous sign. The surveillance cameras were out, the little green dot on them representing running power dead, meaning someone didn't want to be recorded, but didn't care about the panic it would cause after the fact.   
Apart the doors opened, Yang and Nora entering first into the ten by ten foot cabin followed by the tall man. Yang pressed the button for their floor, then took back to her place to the right of Nora and behind the man as they all faced the door. An awkward minute passed where not a word was spoken, the first interruption of silence of course coming from Yang once she recalled more of Blake's diary.

"Say, isn't your name Ada-" was all she could say though. The man's elbows jerked back into both girl's faces, 

Yang staggered back into the elevator wall whilst Nora blocked the attempt, grabbed his arm, and returned a lower back punch with brass knuckles. Not even seeing the draw, Nora felt a slap across the face by a small knife the man hid away in his sleeves.   
The bruiser bounced back and threw a handful of rapid punches, but with the edge of his tiny blade he blocked each of the heavy blows. Taking her opportunity, Nora timed a low knee infused with her semblance in tandem with Yang's assault, launching the tall man out through the roof. An emergency buzzer signaled the elevator's cease of vertical motion.

"Who is he?" Nora asked Yang in urgent concern.

"White Fang!" said the other as she jumped into the elevator shaft in pursuit. Nora followed.

Once atop the cabin, the two ran up opposite walls to flank the man whom was clinging to the steel cables holding up the elevator, but before they could attack, he dropped down to where they were just standing. Using each other as air brakes, Yang and Nora dropped down feet first on either side of Adam, immediately suffering for it. He glowed for a moment before slashing at Yang, knocking her back and knocking off her bear mask while cutting the steel cables at the same time, dropping the elevator. He jumped to the walls while Nora, who just touched down, lost balance and fell for some distance before recovering. Adam set his sights on the blonde and made his offensive, jumping from one wall to another and making cuts at her as he flew by, and every punch she threw he simply eluded, making her incredible strength for naught and her berserker battle cries embarrassing.   
The ginger intercepted him, but only to trade metal on metal clashes. He glowed again and struck at Nora, the walls of the elevator shaft receiving damage but not his intended target. They continued such trades whilst Yang made her own attempts to catch Adam off guard, failing each time but once where she allowed Nora to land her own blow, but her at best minor assistance took a dive when Adam blocked a punch by stabbing his knife in between Yang's knuckles.  
The blonde fell to a structural i beam along the wall and sat herself down, where then Nora was likewise thrown. The Valkyrie's mask had fell down the shaft, allowing the brawler to see the anger on her face.

"Dammit Yang! Get with the program!" she yelled concurrently with the crashing of the elevator cabin at the foundation of the tower, the whole building trembling and ear piercing echoes of the shaft following the destruction.

Nora wasted no time admiring the occurrence after her outburst, promptly engaging Adam once more. Yang laid herself out on the beam without shame, clenching onto her hand in desperate regret, pushing it into her stomach to hide the pain, and blinking furiously and futilely to regain her vision once the blacking out started. After enough heavy breathing and loud incoherent whimpers, her vision returned and showed her the two still fighting far above her, bouncing from wall to wall and lighting up the dim shaft with the sparks of their implements.   
Without warning, Adam gave up on the fight, free falling down the shaft to escape Nora and to a degree Yang. As expected though, the ginger followed right after. Yang too jumped when the man flew by her, and ended up side by side with her friend. Yang felt her world spin and realized she wouldn't do much once they caught up with him, so she gave Nora the boost she needed.

"Nora! I'll launch you!" she hollered.

Positioning themselves as quick as they could, Yang kicked down on the soles of Nora's feet, slowing down Yang's descent and letting her settle herself on a i beam and rocketing Nora down at Adam. Just as she was about to hit the man in the back of the head, she whistled for his attention, causing him to look to the side and up to her. The warning provided enough time for him to shift his body and dodge the jab, but not enough to clear it completely. Her knuckles clipped his mask and knocked it off, leaving Nora to glare into his surprised eyes as she flew past him, and for him to return a look into her surprised eyes.

"Silver eyes..." she mumbled to herself, forgetting her predicament.

The cold air however returned Nora to her sense shortly. Slightly panicked, the ginger aimed herself for the guide rails going all the way to the bottom and put her feet against them while slanting her body to provide force against the rails and in turn provide friction to slow her fall. Once the effect reached it's peak, she jumped from the one rail to another and another to further slow her fall. Once that worked out, she finally landed on an i beam with enough force to make it shudder in place. She watch Adam perform a similar maneuver to hers accept down at the foundation that she could now see, only to watch as he disappeared from sight into the basement levels.

-End Chapter 19-


	20. Into the Factory, Behind a Vault

There they sat together within team RWBY's kitchen around the table, sipping away at cheap coffee and staring blankly at said cups of coffee. Team RWBY, Jaune, Pyrrha, and Glynda hid themselves from the crowds of curious civilians at the entrance of the tower along with the police whom were investigating of course. With no word from Ren since the end of the ball, they anxiously awaited his return. Nora alone had refused to take him at his word and wait, instead taking it to the streets in search for him.

Enough hours had past since several of the youngsters got bored, Yang's impatience from fatigue and pain being the most pronounced. Her agitation eventually lead her to ignore the solemn atmosphere at the table, and to pick up her cheap coffee. "I like my men like I like my coffee..."

Weiss counted the number of 'likes' in her statement, Glynda ignored her, and Blake gave a look of skeptical curiosity.

Yang gave a pained chuckle, "in a plastic cup..."

"It's foam Yang" said Weiss.

"Fair enough, but... can orphans eat at a family restaurant?"

Everybody looked at Yang with disbelief. Ruby put her head down to the table before bursting into laughter.

"Also," Yang continued, "shouldn't they suck at playing batball, seeing as they don't know where home is?" The indignant looks continued as well. "Hey, I heard about this guy who went to a library and asked for a book on how to commit suicide, and the librarian told him to screw off because she knew he wouldn't bring it back..."

Glynda lowered her cup and glared at Yang. "Fair enough" she nodded approvingly.

Ruby managed to control herself enough to spit out a few words, laughing "so a guy walks into a bar..." before losing it entirely again.

A minute passed. "Wait wait" Weiss giggled, "you know parallel lines have so much in common, it's a shame they're never going to meet." After a moment of no reaction, Pyrrha put a fist to her mouth in a poor attempt to hide her laughing.

Ruby made her return, snickering "What do you call a can opener that doesn't work? A can't opener!" Everyone shook their head.

"You know I don't understand couples who fight and will change their status minutes later to 'single', I mean, I fight with my dad, but I don't change my status to 'orphan', catch my drift?" Yang struck again.

Jaune nodded in disagreement. "Naw man, uhm, the real problem is whenever I go to a restaurant, and they uh, they ask me if I would like a table, and I'm always like 'no, I came here to eat on the floor. Carpet for two please'."

"One time I was speeding and a cop pulled me over" Yang laughed, "he said papers, so I said scissors I win, and drove off..."

"You're terrible" Blake confessed with a smile.

"Don't worry" Yang comforted, "he gave up the chase before he crashed." 

"Why didn't the horse want to sing?" her younger sister asked. "Because his throat was too hoarse!" She stuck out her tongue a little.

Glynda took her turn this time. "What do you call a dead student who can't tell a joke?" she said in total seriousness.

"What?" asked the youngest at the table.

"Ruby" she answered.

"I dun get it" Yang said drolly with a droopy face. "No, you want a joke? A teenager's web history..." Jaune snorted.

"Wait, I don't get it..." Ruby looked on in confusion.

The door to the luxury apartment opened wide, causing those inside to whip their heads in unison to see who it was. They stared as Ren walked in dragging in a large bag, puked, then fell down on the couch in the living room. 

"Uh..."

Nora burst into the room only thirty seconds later, hot on Ren's trail. "Did he come into- Ren!" She ran over to the unconscious boy and patted his body furiously. "Guys!" she cried, "he's really hurt! We need to help him! Help him! Come on!" she looked at them through instant tears. Running over to him in panic, they were greeted with a nose punch, the copious amount of blood on him reeking his immediate vicinity. Her hand on his head, she told them how he was freezing, though one could just see that from the frozen blood on his... everywhere.

Glynda reacted fast and took control of the situation. "Okay, Pyrrha, Nora, strip him and run him under hot water, check for wounds, and since you're an O+ Pyrrha, you can give him blood. Blake, steal some tubing and needles and gauze while you're at it. Yang, Weiss, watch whatever he brought in." Halfway to the bathroom already, Glynda eyed the articles of clothing trailing Ren and the other two, then turned back to Ruby and Jaune. "You two, check his clothing for anything important, I'll contact Ozpin. If you find anything, tell me."

"Yes ma'am" they obediently answered.

Though they found a few interesting items throughout his bloodstained clothing, they knew most of it was his from the start. His scroll was promising, but it had a lock on it. Jaune did find something fortunately. In Ren's pant's was a little torn piece of paper soaked in blood with faintly visible black ink underneath. Running over to the closest lamp, he put the paper to the light and read 'factory 114' through the blood. "Found something!" Jaune shouted.

He took it over to Glynda whom told Ozpin to wait a moment, and thusly told her his discovery. Overhearing it, Weiss yelled from the other side of the wall that factory 114 would be somewhere in the north east of Atlas. Ozpin sighed on his end of the scroll call. "We must investigate it immediately, before they potentially change location after tonight."

"I volunteer" Jaune wasted no time in stating, eager to make sure his friend's mission was worth it.

"Me too..." Ruby followed. Jaune was hardly her reason for going however, instead the thought of waiting anxiously even more so than before wasn't the most appealing.

"Don't worry" Glynda told them, "you'll get to go, but who else? We don't know if Blake is being tracked down still, Weiss is too recognizable, Yang's injured, and Pyrrha and Nora are preoccupied."

"Glynda, how about Mr. Biscotti?" Ozpin offered.

"But he's not in on this, we'd be risking an information leak, and in turn, treason and worse..."

"It's time we get help Glynda, our work is too much for two teams alone."

"Fine, I'll get him, but only him. They need to be inconspicuous."

"Couldn't agree more" Ozpin said before hanging up.

Ruby and Jaune looked at each other. "So... should we get him then?" they asked.

She put her hands to her face and let out a large sigh of frustration and frayed nerves. "Just..." she sounded as if she was about to cry herself, "just be careful and don't attract attention."

After a quick change of clothes and a grab at their implements, they knocked on the neighboring apartment for team BNSH, of which the ditzy and combat savant Nola Gran with her pixie cut dirty blonde hair answered. Jaune asked to borrow Ben her team leader for the an allotted time frame of indeterminable amount. She didn't hesitate to comply and to wake him up. They told him to dress for the cold and to follow them.  
Running along the dark early morning streets, Ben was scared and intrigued to say the least, but didn't say anything until they had ran about two miles and reduced their speed to a brisk walk. Ruby and Jaune looked like regular civilians, dressed head to toe in brown and black winter wear, Jaune's sword and shield under his coat and Ruby's crescent rose in a duffel bag. Ben almost matched perfectly, his brawler's gauntlets being the only thing sticking out.

"So... wow. Factory 114 then hey?" Ben said out of the blue.

Ruby looked at him in confusion, while Jaune rolled his eyes. "He did it again..."

"For the love of all that is sacred, is it telepathy or is it prophetic or is it something else?" Ruby begged, tired of Ben's little secret.

"I will not answer that."

Jaune made sure that Ben knew all he needed to know however, unsure how far his knowledge extended. "To be clear though-"

"Yeah no, I know, this is for the greater good, I'm being brought in on the loop, if we're not careful, we could get tried for illegal acts in a foreign state and lots of bad things and so on. I'm just glad that Ozpin trust me enough to bring my team in on the action. As far as I can tell, you two have been getting all the attention."

Jaune let out a long sigh. "How long have you known this?"

"I will not answer that." Ben smirked.

A moment of silence passed between the three team leaders as they glided down the street before Jaune spoke once again, worry and concern in his voice. "So, just wondering, how are hunters tried?"

"You mean in court?" Ruby clarified.

"Yeah."

"Different than civilians for sure" Ruby answered.

"Yeah" Ben added, "same rules, different expectations."

"Yep, and to be in-prisoned as a hunter is not fun."

"Oh?"

"Yep, they keep your hands tied behind your back to your ankles with thick steel bars, and they underfeed you."

"Oh."

"Yeah its not fun."

"Worried about getting caught?" she sympathized, to which Jaune nodded. "Best not to think about it."

On in the dark arctic chill they wandered, eyes open for their objective. The buildings they passed steadily lowered in standards along with their height, going rapidly from skyscrapers to apartment and market buildings for a while before deprecating into warehouses and various qualities of factories. Eventually they came upon an empty canal that crossed underneath a overhead highway, and on the other side was an active factory labelled '068'. Following the drain way that provided pitch darkness, the serial codes increased predictably one building at a time until they arrived near the edge of Atlas at the fabled location. Factory 114. They stood around a shanty door to a decrepit building more akin to an empty warehouse than anything else. 

"Should we knock on the front door then?" Ben suggested half heartily.

"No" shot down Ruby. A pause. "Yes. We pose as lost teenagers if anyone's in there, but we don't knock."

"What would teenagers be doing out so far out here this early?" Jaune questioned the likely hood of someone being stupid enough not to question them.

Ben clicked his tongue in thought. "Bad bus stop?"

"Are there bus stops around here?"

"No, let's focus. It would be suspicious if we didn't knock" said the girl.

"We say we're investors looking for a vacant lot..."

"What would teenagers be doing looking for sound investments?"

"At five in the morning?"

"Can I help you?" a nervous voice asked, causing the three teens to freak out.

They turned to see a surprisingly fit and tall yet timid man of slightly darker skin with big 'o' shaped glasses in work duds. He had a name tag that read 'Perry' in cursive. Ruby was the first to react.

"We're lost! Can we go inside?"

"We're interested in renting this lot!" spouted off Ben impulsively.

"And it's so cold out here and the bus left us at the wrong stop..." Jaune added in panic.

Perry gawked at them for a while, his eyes resting down on Ruby however when he said "wait a minute, you're that one girl!"

"I'm sorry who?" she deflected innocently. She sure didn't recognize him, but being recognized by anyone at this particular moment would not be beneficial.

"Uh" he muttered, "I mean, you're that one huntress, I saw you on television... can I help you?" He could've been more conspicuous if he tried, but only barely.

The knight stepped up, tired of playing around. "We need to go inside and now, is that alright?" The question was rhetorical and his words lacked manners.

"Uh, sure, I mean, this factory is abandoned after all. I work down the road actually" he complied as he rubbed the back of his neck.

Jaune went ahead and opened the door, walking cautiously into the dim structure. It was a simple layout really, a wide open cement floor where any number of things would go but were absent from, two closed bay doors where trucks could transport any produced goods, a little back area meant for lockers and a time card machine plus a bathroom, vacant save for a large rug, and stairs that lead up to a management office that doubled as a work floor supervision crows nest. It all smelled of oil and cold. Exploring their way around, they rested themselves in the upstairs office, all keeping a close eye for detail.   
Without saying a word, they threw looks to each other. There were a few brown spots on the carpet that brought old blood to mind, the door was off it's hinges and in the corner, and fresh cigar butts were in an ashtray on the small table. It looked like it had some traffic in it recently, ignoring the old candy wrappers swept into the corners. But otherwise, they didn't find anything that might suggest enemy movement. Except for one thing.

Jaune turned to Perry whom stood on the stairway, more or less blocking them into the office. "You said you worked down the street right?" Jaune stepped closer to the man.

"Uhm, yes, why?" Perry looked from side to side, nervous.

Jaune leaned against the door way with his hands on the top sill, arms reach from the other man. Ruby and Ben paid close attention. "Then why are you here sticking with us? At five in the morning?" 

"Well, you see..." he said as he slowly stepped backwards down the steel stair way. He didn't make it far when he reached into his back pocket to grab at something, prompting Jaune to grab onto the door sill and kick the man with both legs at full force, rocketing the man off the stair and unconscious onto the work floor.

Running down to the limp body, Jaune checked the man's pockets, finding a small grenade where he assumed the man was reaching for, and a pistol. He also discovered a small second set of ears tucked underneath Perry's hair, meaning he was a faunus. He wasn't sure what type, but he knew he was a faunus. "White Fang!" he shouted up to the other two, showing the grenade in his hand.

"Oh good, I thought he was suspicious" Ruby sighed in relief.

"Yeah, I thought I was just being paranoid" agreed Ben.

"Well, if he's here, we need to investigate more."

They agreed. However, tried as they might, their search was pointless up to the moment they looked in the empty locker room. Jaune pulled away the shag rug, revealing a large trap door. The three of them looked to each other with pensive faces, actually scared to what they might find. Braving their worse thoughts, the two boys pulled open the doors and all descended into the basement.   
None of them could decide if the basement was apart of the factory's original construction, but it was there now. The concrete steps they took down lead them to a hall way lit by fluorescent bulbs and containing a few doors leading up to a vault door, and the first door to their left was producing sound. Together they slowly walked up to the door way and looked inside.

A bat faunus was facing away from them and pulling food cans from sheet metal shelves and throwing them lackadaisically into cardboard boxes to his side. He heard the three teen's approach, but didn't realize whom made the sound, and instead assumed it was the other faunus. "Perry, that you?" he asked, still focused on his task. "Tell me, should I even bother packing the chocolate and peanut butter candies? I mean, no one eats them, especially once they age and the peanut butter stuffing gets all... bleh..." The following silence did however grant his attention. "Perry?" 

He turned around only to be decked by Ben, who followed the sucker punch with a couple knees then a elbow to the back of the neck, totally knocking out the bat faunus. Seeing nothing of note in what they surmised as the storage room, they checked out the next room, that is only after Ruby snagged some stale cookies that were left behind. The room across the hall was entirely empty save some tables and a strong scent of gun oils and lubricants. The last door before the vault was a low ceiling room with a small bathroom and cobwebs tucked away in the far corners.   
Once the three doors were checked for other people, they moved on to the vault door, creaked open already just for them. Leaning back with all his weight, Jaune pulled the heavy steel door to reveal a workshop, or a ghost of one. Dirty work benches, empty wire racks, and clear tool boards lined the smooth face cement walls that made up the room, with two heavy work benches side by side in the middle. Checking all the drawers and scanning about divulged nothing to them, intriguing Ben, disappointing Ruby, and infuriating Jaune. The latter slammed his hands down onto a metal trolley in rage.

"What's wrong Jaune?" Ruby asked with great worry.

The blonde shook his head. "You saw him right? Ren? All that blood?" he asked, his voice trailing up in pitch.

"Wait, what happened?" 

"Oh? I thought you were psychic Ben. Didn't you know? Ren got this lead after who knows what, and came to us half dead..."

"Jaune-" Ruby whispered.

"He could be dead now!" Jaune stated with false excitement and red eyes.

She tried again, but couldn't believe her own words as much as she wanted to. "Jaune, Ren's going to be fine, there's no way he would just die like that..." She wasn't about to cry, but her throat started croaking. Her words broke as they came out of her mouth. A harsh reality and possibility came down upon them both.

Jaune went all out and started at a whisper and worked his way up to a shouting volume, scorning the situation with "Ozpin's all like 'hey! we know you just want to take a break, but hey! Go do stuff that could get you charged with serious crimes even if ya don't fuck up- oh hey! By the way, it might be dangerous, m'kay!? Let's send two people alone to snoop around at night in a foreign land and oh hey! One of you almost died!? Oh well, what do I care? My students are really only pawns, am I right? And oh hey! What Ren died getting a-" he started punching a table with open tears, shouting out "A FUCKING PIECE OF PAPER! A DEAD END! EVERYTHING'S GONE! ALL FOR NOTHING!" 

"But Jaune!" Ruby shouted back, "what about the two guys huh!? We can question them! Find out what was going on here!" 

"She's right you know, we may have missed whatever was going on here" Ben said, gesturing to the room, "but we got the next best thing... people who might know where the next location for the White Fang hide out is. That is what we're looking for right? I mean, I'm just assuming at this point, I have no idea what's going on here really..."

The knight quieted down and leaned his head into one of the tables. Similarly, Ruby leaned into the center table, only now realizing how tired she was. "You're right" he murmured. "We'll question the two guys. If Ren got a lead from Jack's penthouse that lead us to a freshly abandoned location with an armed faunus, we have reasonable suspicion. If they turn out to be totally unrelated civilians who happened to be at the wrong place, wrong time, then we'll have hell to pay, but we need to be sure."

"So you do think it's been just deserted?" the other boy asked.

"Yeah" answered the girl. "The smell of weaponry and workshop tools are too fresh. This had to be a White Fang hideout, but the question is why here, and for what purpose."

"Well we all agree then on the first point" said Ben.

"Something's not right. It's a little... small. No room to hide large cargo like dust or machines, not counting the warehouse area, but that's too open to the public. Unless it's just a recruitment center or something..."

"You're right, it's odd" said Ruby.

"Well, no point in... er, let's just get the guys I guess. Question is how we'er going to get them back?" Jaune head out of the vault, Ben following a moment later. Ruby laid her head down onto the crease that formed between the two center tables.

"We could wrap them in garbage bags..." offered the brawler.

"Wait..." mumbled Ruby. In between the tables on the floor hidden in darkness was a faint whiteness. Peaking through the two tables, she saw a finger. "Ew..." 

"What?" asked both boys.

"There's a finger..."

"What?" they repeated from the vault door way.

She scooted the tables and tried reaching it from the top, but her arms were too short. Then she realized she could just push the tables apart completely, and on her knees she picked up the finger from the ground. It was not however, a dismembered finger. At the point where the finger had been 'cut off,' the flesh ended flush with a single pivot joint with thin steel wires sprouting from the top and bottom of the joint with tiny locking connecters on them. Dubious of it all, Ruby scratched at the skin with her finger nail swiftly, revealing underneath that familiar dull light gray metal plating she saw under Penny's skin.

-End Chapter 20-


	21. Soulful Contemplation

"Daddy, daddy, is he going to stay with us?" the little ginger girl asked with unrestrained excitement.

The black haired boy rubbed his eyes, completely and entirely baffled by the predicament that he woke up to. One minute he was following refugees, his feet bloody from running and his clothes scorched, next he was staring back into the intense blue eyes of a girl peeping over the edge of the couch he woke up on. Her 'daddy' stood just behind her, one hand on the her shoulder.

"Well..." the short yet stout man started, pondering his thoughts as he stroked his trim beard. "I think we should."

The girl gasped. Her reaction was patted down however by an arm that reached over the boy's head from behind the couch. "But what about his family?" asked a woman's hushed voice.

The father nodded with great somber. "He was one of the few that made it out... his village was way out there."

"Then he probably doesn't have any documentation. Can we take him in?"

The two adults stood up and took their conversation over to a table just in the other room, their manner worried and quiet, afraid to further frighten the boy or their daughter. The two children were left alone together, and the girl took her chance to introduce herself.

Throwing her elbows onto the seat cushions and pressing her hands into her cheeks, she whispered delightfully "I'm Nora!"

The boy simply rolled over with his blanket and hid his face into the couch backing. Tears welled up in his eyes and before he knew it, the fabric beneath his face was soaked.

"What's wrong?" Nora asked confused, head tilted and eyes squinted.

The boy took a long minute to find the strength to speak, and only then his voice was still but a croak. "My mom, my dad, my grandma, my friends..." his throat clenched once more, and the tears just poured harder.

"Hmmm..." the girl hummed. "I don't understand what's going on really, and people keep whispering around me, and I don't get it, and it's making me wonder if they're afraid that maybe if they speak too loud, then my ears will explode, or maybe they're just hiding something from me" the girl babbled in total innocent seriousness, "but anyways, I don't know about your parents, but I can be your friend!" She lowered herself again, hiding most of her face using the couch as cover, eagerly awaiting his response.

She got none.

"So... I'm Nora! What's your name?" she asked awkwardly.

He kept his face hidden along with the small puddle forming in the crevices of the fabric, but found no reason not to tell her at least that much. "Ren" he growled.

His entire body felt lighter and warmer, but when he went to crane his neck, everything hurt. "Ah... ah... ah..." he breathed.

"Ren, your awake" smiled Nora.

Deja vu hit hard as Ren found himself lying on a couch, wrapped up in a blanket, with Nora on her knees at his side, he felt he had lived this moment before, but couldn't remember where off the top of his head. He rubbed the sleep from his eyes, but was still very tired.

Then his eyes jerked open. "Wait... I need to tell everyone about the factory-" he started, frantic to complete his task, but Nora pushed him back into the couch.

"Don't worry, everything's been handled, they know about the factory, and we even got some blood in you..." she assured him. It seemed to be her job to sum up events to those who slept through them she noticed, like how she did for Jaune and Pyrrha the year before.

He relaxed, though not entirely calmed, though he could just fall asleep again if he wanted to. That fact that enough had transpired without his awareness didn't help his mind. "Pain..." he mumbled. He needed to get that fact out of the way, a fact he felt the most need to state. Well, that and ask for "morphine?"

Nora's lips clenched together even harder to make a bungled smile. "Silly," she whispered, "we already gave you some. Glynda said though that we should only do enough to ease the pain, not get rid of it, because when you get off of it, well..." she made a pained face to demonstrate how he would feel, which made Ren chuckle, which made Ren hurt.

"Better some than none..." he stopped. Moving his arms around, he felt underneath the sheets before looking abashed to his partner. "Why am I naked?"

Nora painfully laughed herself, her eyes turning red with grief, answering "because everything you were wearing was soaked in blood..."

Ren pulled out his arm and cupped the back of Nora's head, pulling her in to his chest. Every step hurt, but seeing Nora upset made Ren feel only worse. "Shh, shh, shh" he shushed, padding her hair. "I'm okay, I'm okay..."

"Liar, it's not okay" she cried softly into his shoulder.

"But I'm still here."

"Yeah, but you're so hurt!"

He pulled her head a little aways so that he could look her in the eye. "Then next time," he said, "will you come with me, and be by my side? Together we can do it..."

She stared back at him, rubbing her running nose. "Of course. Together..."

"That's right, together..." he reassured her, and pulled her forehead to his bandaged one. "I promise."

In the moment they shared joined together, Ren didn't want to admit that he almost fell asleep, and would've if Nora hadn't sat back down to her more restful position, sniffing just a little. "Thank you" she smiled. A quiet laugh, "I should be the one helping you though, do you need anything?" she asked as she blushed.

"Food" he didn't hesitate to answer.

"And the moment's gone..." Blake remarked with disappointment. Pyrrha, drinking her orange juice at the doorway of the living room next to Blake, nodded in agreement.

"Almost went somewhere that time" Pyrrha added.

"It was fantastic while it lasted."

Nora's face went beet red and tried to hide it by drooping her face and looking away, perfectly silent, but failed miserably. Ren felt some annoyance, but had his priorities, asking "food is still an option though, right?"

At that moment, they could hear the door to team RWBY's apartment opening up, along with Ruby's full volume voice that seemed to have forgotten the time of morning it was.

"I brought fast food!" they heard her say.

"Are you serious Ruby!?" they heard Weiss greet back. There's nothing more sensible than stopping to get tacos after a possibly deadly mission. That is if they're assuming the task was dangerous, and that Ruby got tacos. Some sort of breakfast food would've been more appropriate, thought Pyrrha, something like pancakes, thought Nora.

Blake and Pyrrha looked to each other, "I guess we should see what they found" asserted the redhead. 

"Should we bring Ren?" asked the other. They all looked the person in question and saw him dead asleep again. 

Nora nodded her head to and fro. "You go ahead, I'll watch him."

Back in the other room, Ruby's mood jumped from calm to a ill temper instantly, and felt the strong urge to defend her actions, declaring "If I'm going to be forced to stay awake, I need food dammit." She dropped the bag of burgers on the kitchen countertop carelessly. "Dig in you ungrateful... people that are... ungrateful." Stomping past Glynda and Weiss to the table in the center of the living room, she threw down the machine finger with equal parts pride and fury, expecting everyone else there to appreciate what they were looking at, of which they didn't. This bothered Ruby.

"It's a finger" keenly observed Yang. Ruby rolled her eyes.

Picking it back up, she waved the digit in the faces of everyone, especially Blake and Pyrrha once they got back in the main room. "You see this?"

"What are we looking at?" Weiss snapped, quickly tired of her partner's condescending tone.

"It's a finger! A robotic finger! A finger like what Penny has!" she articulated the finger repeatedly from being straight to bent as she said this, making it look like Ruby was but a child playing with a toy.

Jaune was the first to ask the obvious question of "what now about Penny and robots?" All in the room looked to Ruby to expand on what she knew.

Ruby however looked confused. "What do you mean? You mean like how Penny is a robot?"

"What!?" shouted everyone who wasn't Ruby.

"You knew this!?" inquired Pyrrha with ire. This information could've been useful to her in the last tournament, and thus the thought that Ruby never thought to tell her struck a nerve. Regardless, this reveal of info made her fight with Penny did make more sense in hindsight she thought.

"And you didn't tell us!?" Weiss screeched.

"Wait..." started Ruby, "I thought you guys already knew."

Yang rubbed her temples to give her hands something to do that didn't involve hitting her sister. She spoke slowly, countering "how would we have known, Ruby? You think that we would maybe assume something like that? Well, you shouldn't have, because news flash, amazingly human cyborg android things are not something that people just... jump to as a state of being for a person, that make sense?"

Ruby didn't have a counter point. Trying to move on, she continued. "Anyways, not that it was that big of a deal, but now it is since-"

"Human robots are a pretty big fucking deal" Ben interrupted. Everyone nodded in agreement.

"Anyways, as I was saying, we found this finger at the location Ren found. Nothing else. And when I say nothing else, I mean they cleared out everything and only left empty tables, everything except this. That asshole over there-" she pointed to the guy they knocked out in the basement, still unconscious by the door right next to the guy Ren brought back, "-was one of two guys they left to clean up the trivial stuff."

"What happened to the other one?" Glynda asked, reasonably concerned. 

With indignation, Jaune admitted their failure to apprehend him, saying "his name was Perry I think, and he faked being knocked out, and when we left to check the basement he had made a get away in a truck parked down the street."

"So I believe it's safe to say that if they didn't know we were on to them before, they know now. Now, with knowledge of this 'finger'-" Glynda said with dubiousness, "and the fact about Penny's identity coming to light, it seems we have more questions now than answers. If I may Ms. Rose, what else do you know about Penny? Like whom made 'her'-" she spoke again with uncertainty of whether or not it was really accurate or not to regard Penny as a person, "what is she capable of, or what is her purpose?"

Ruby thought for a moment, casual in how she held herself, which did not reflect the attitude shared by the rest of the occupants of the room. "Well lets see, Mr. Ironwood and some scientist made her to be the first artificial and synthetic being to produce a aura, plan to market more of her type so that less huntsmen and huntresses have to be... put in the way of danger or something like that, or... they want to work out some kinks I think, prove to the public that she's combat ready, then mass produce synthetics like her. Yeah, it's pretty cool, she's all like metal underneath, and weighs like... alot, but anyways, most of the time she isn't allowed to roam free..."

As Ruby explained what she knew about the android, everyone else slowly found themselves a sit to fall into, put their heads into their hands, and contemplated everything they knew.

"Ruby, shut up" said Weiss, eerily calm as she did so.

Pyrrha raised her face from her hands, almost whispering "aura is the manifestation of one's soul, a projection of a living being's sentience and life, and they managed to make a android with a soul?"

"You can't do that, can you?" Blake asked to no one in particular.

Ruby looked over the crowd of thunderstruck faces and couldn't understand the fuss. "I- I don't get it, what's the problem?"

Ben, feeling a bit overwhelmed with the revelations he's been through in one night, pardoned himself from the room and found himself back in his team's apartment. There they waited for him patiently while eating cereal, unsuspecting of the news he was about to lay upon them.

"So, are they letting us in on the loop?" asked Sandell, the largest of team BNSH standing at a moderate six foot three and being the only one to wear armor.

Ben sat down with a long sigh and a wide and exasperated expression. "Whoa boy... I hope that... you guys are... open minded... to what I am about to... tell you... see..."

South of Atlas, in what one would only describe as a empty desert of snow, ran a convoy of a dozen tractor trucks due south west at about fifty miles per hour. Rushing past the rear of the pack, Perry raced his tractor truck to the front on the right side, pulling up to the head truck and matching speed. Rolling down his window, Perry looked out to his left to see Roman, map in hand, roll down his own window.

Shouting over the gushing, freezing winds, Perry addressed Roman with "we were discovered." He wasn't proud of it, but his boss would want an honest account of actions.

The master thief sighed in disappointed frustration. "It's fine, you weren't followed though, right?"

"No, but they have Chet. They'll question him no doubt." The vehicle pulled to the right pretty hard, but Perry pulled it back in control.

The other thought for a moment, hand to his chin before looking at the map again. "It's a good thing you caught up with us when you did."

"Oh?"

"Yeah, we're not going to the 'plan b' hideout. I've been thinking about this for a while, and Chet getting caught and our location being discovered gives us just the right excuses." Roman looked at the map again, then hung out the window and pointed south, the direction they were more or less already heading, shouting "up a few miles we'll turn for the abandoned docks instead of the hideout, should take us a day's drive. From there, we'll sail south west to the abandoned continent, land on the east coast. I'll call in some assistance and we'll get picked up and moved to headquarters."

They ran over a bump in the terrain, launching them up from their seats into the air briefly, but it had no effect on their train of thought. "How well do you think that's going to blow over, honestly?"

Roman studied the map again. "Well Perry, the puppet-maker is probably going to be kept there," he chewed on his thumb as he pondered the others, "the mercenaries are going to be moved to... Mistral, yeah-"

"-What about us?"

"I think we'll be relocated to Vale again, except in the south eastern region this time. Dante's been itching for that area to be mapped for a while now, so he'll put me in charge of that. Or maybe Vacuo? We lost quite a few airships in the last raid, so they might want me to oversee the fleet reconstruction. Cinder can't stop bitching about the need for air power and some birds told me that there's a bit of disorganization in Vacuo since the schism, so we might get manager position." Roman stuffed the map into the glove compartment and lit up a cigar for himself, musing the possible tasks Cinder or Dante might drop on him.

The faunus gave a sigh then a shiver. "Okay, fine, those are possibilities, but how do you think it will blow over? You know, at headquarters?" Less than savory thoughts creeped into Perry's head, thoughts such as the punishment for failure.

The other shrugged. "Oh Cinder will be pissed. For sure. Let's see... oh what the fuck Perry!? I'm not having this conversation anymore, I'm cold! Get in the back of the pack and we'll continue this talk on the boat tomorrow, ok?" Roman didn't wait for the response before rolling his window up and folding his arms to maintain some semblance of warmth. Looking over, his driver gave him a look of cold bitter resentment for letting all the cold in. Roman understood, but didn't care what he thought. He instead paid mind to his current situation. He was happy he was finally leaving Atlas, the cold bitter hell it was, but didn't look forward to what headquarters had in mind for him. Who knows he thought, Cinder is probably not even on the continent, but he can only hope that when he gets there, Dante will send him away on an errand as quickly as possible, and he could only hope it's something Cinder wanted done. He could only hope.

-End Chapter 21-


	22. Someone Else

"Okay, on the count of three, I'll pour it, alright?" Blake told Yang, ready to clean the gaping stab wound in the brawler's hand from Adam.

Eyes closed as to not see the separated flesh and muscle, Yang spoke through clenched teeth to give permission with "do it."

"Okay, one-" Blake counted before dumping the antiseptic cleaner down onto the severed hand. 

Yang cried out and head butted her partner, squeezing her bad hand with the other in a vain attempt to put the flesh back together. Quickly changing tactics, she turned on the bathroom sink to try washing away the sting. "You bitch" she laughed out in her pain.

"You're welcome." Wrapping Yang's hand with bandage linen and a pat on the back later, the two found themselves sitting down in the living room of team RWBY's apartment, now for the first time it seemed void of non team RWBY members. At two o'clock in the afternoon, their leader slept undignified with her mouth wide open on the other couch, drool spilling onto the seat cushions while Weiss combed her hair, lost in her own thoughts over by the window. Blake and Yang leaned back into their cushy spots and dropped their heads backwards, nothing to do except pass the time till the tournament starts. At least, almost nothing, as Blake still had some lingering questions about the previous night and the busy morning afterwards. "Yang?" she asked softly.

"Yeah?" the other called back lazily.

"Did you really fight Adam?"

Weiss looked over from the window to see how her jocular teammate would respond, but it was clear that said teammate wasn't looking forward to this topic.

"Let's get something to eat; don't want to wake Ruby up by being too loud and all." 

The native atlesian watched the other's get on their warm winter clothing and hide Yang's bandaged hand under thick mittens before quietly closing the door behind themselves to leave. Letting slip a few muffled coughs as she herself got up, Weiss tip toed over to Ruby where then she traced her fingers across her cheeks, pulling her sleeping partner's hair from her face and tucking behind her ear. The tender touch Ruby felt caused her to roll over onto her side and ball up into a fetal position, closing her mouth too while she was at it. "Now waking her up was the least of your worries, wasn't it?" the duelist spoke to herself.

Stepping out of the elevator at the base floor, Yang and Blake observed the police mill about as repairmen performed their namesake on the recently dilapidated elevator shaft, but got stopped before they could leave the front entrance when they were greeted by a young, female, and beleaguered detective who unquestionably was having a bad day. She asked them for their names and alibi and anyone who could confirm it. Speaking for both, Yang told her they were students of Beacon who attended the masquerade last night, and that she could ask anyone who attended that they were there. 

"Yeah just about every freaking person that's come through has said the same damn thing. You're free to go, I'm just following orders is all..." the woman confessed, stepping out of the way of the huntresses.

Yang guffawed. She gave the investigator a daring expression and confidently stated "I'm just kidding, I actually had an epic fight in that elevator shaft last night with a white fang redheaded samurai with a butter knife who is actually one of the leaders of the white fang while falling at lethal speeds." She held up her wounded but mittened hand, "he stabbed me right in between my knuckles, and cut the cable cord too..."

Blake took a long, deep breath while glaring at her partner.

"...and she" Yang pointed to Blake, "went off and broke into rich people's penthouses to steal information and ran away from bounty hunters..."

The investigator didn't even lift her eyes from her note pad, instead simply chuckling "ha, finally some one interesting, most of the girls that have come through just get offended and angry. But yeah, you two have a good day."

Strolling right out the entrance and into the cold, Blake threw her face into her hands, seething, barely able to contain her frustration with the blonde. "Are you serious Yang?" she growled.

"Why yes, I do believe everything I have said thus far has been more or less completely true" she answered snappily, proud that she could tell the truth in such a way that made it seem like a lie.

Choosing to go west towards the bay with no real idea of direction or goal, Blake strutted away from Yang to demonstrate her obvious anger, though Yang couldn't have paid lesser mind. Catching up with her and keeping pace, Blake corrected the other, remarking "we don't know that they were bounty hunters, they were probably hired body guards, mercenaries, and it was one rich person's apartment."

The brawler shrugged as she blew a gush of visible breath into the air, a face of mischievous delight backing her next thought, "oooh, wouldn't it be cool if someone sent bounty hunters after us?"

"No it wouldn't."

"Totally would be, Ren can't hog all the fun to himself, now can he?" She didn't think through her words, and immediately regretted the distress she brought upon Blake.

A sigh. "You saw him. That wouldn't have happened if I stayed with him." Her head drooped low as she stared at her feet shuffling through the snow covered sidewalks, occasionally sidestepping to avoid an oncoming pedestrian. "He took them all on his own when he didn't have to. Now he has to deal with the blood on his hands-"

"Now stop there" Yang snapped at her. The black haired girl was startled to hear the brawler giggle to herself. "Remember back to when you and Ruby killed Fox?" Blake shot Yang a enraged glare. "Yeah, you feel like shit right? Well did you ever stop to think how Weiss felt?"

Blake kept walking but stopped in her mental tracks. Yes, she thought, she did think about Weiss's emotional state, but maybe only for a little, the evidence being in that she couldn't remember at all how Weiss acted after the incident, completely opposite to her still evident guilt over the matter. "Eh..."

Yang looked Blake in the eye and smiled. "When you say it out loud it may sound petty, but Fox hurt Weiss badly. Weiss felt that obviously. That pain caused Weiss to feel content when she discovered the one who hurt her had paid for it. She didn't mourn his death, nor did she think less of you or Ruby for taking it. She was grateful. Again, sounds petty out loud, but it's only human nature, or at least a stable, normal minded person's nature. From what I gathered with Ren's story, I don't think he's going to spend much time grieving over the people who just tried to kill him and almost succeeded. In fact, I'm know for certain right now he's either sleeping right now blissfully or eating contently." She rubbed her partner's shoulders. "You need to stop thinking about it."

She shook off her hand. "Does the victim's relation to the murderer make it any less of a murder? I took a life, a gift of soul and body and I destroyed it-"

Yang rolled her eyes. "-You're an idiot."

"I don't think that's really fair-"

"When you kill a dear to eat it's meat, do you feel bad? You have a good reason to do it, nature set it up that way, it has feelings too, but you don't feel bad about it. Maybe. Is it wrong to kill it? Not if for the right reason. Context is everything. He almost killed our friend and was a traitor to Vale, I believe that's more than enough-"

"-But he was a sentient person!"

"Oh for fuck sake Blake! Look, Adam asked for you by name!"

They continued walking on in abrupt silence. The passerby that heard their blow up shook his head and kept to his business. Yang took a right turn into a mall complex, Blake in tow. People, sounds, colors, warmth and the scents of food surrounded them the moment they stepped past the doors, and on they went following the diagonally patterned red brick flooring that separated the in-mall storefronts.

Blake rubbed her knuckles. "He did?"

"Yeah" Yang sighed.

"Did he say anything else?" 

She thought on it for a moment, finally answering "literally nothing else before attacking us and stabbing me." Yang was still a little bitter about the subject.

The darker of the two slowed down as they passed a book shop, her yellow eyes searching past the glass for something she might find. The other rolled hers. "I'm hungry and I'm not stopping to shop for more smut."

"It's romantic literature with tragic twists and realistic conclusions!" she proclaimed as she grabbed tightly onto Yang's wounded hand. The blonde fell to her knees with a muffled whimper as she yanked away her pained member. 

"You bitch" Yang laughed in agony. Walking forward a bit, the faunus looked on to the food court this time, though her mind somewhere else. "So I take it you're hungry too?"

"How'd he look? Like, how did he seem?"

"Hmm," Yang postured, her good hand stroking her chin astutely, "well if I had to say I'd say he looked uh, let's see, I think I would go with a giant asshole! Forget the past Blake, I don't know what happened between you two but I would venture a guess that a relationship with him now would not be a healthy one- hey! Don't you walk away from me!"

She made a leisurely pace onwards, recalling from memory "you know... he's the one that got me into reading."

It was Yang's turn to throw a look to the bookstore before turning her attention back to Blake. "Oh really? I believe it."

"The first thing he ever gave me was Gambol Shroud. He trained me when I was just a naive little girl, but uh, he was pretty young too I remember, no one expected much from him yet. When they started taking him seriously and started giving him real jobs to do, he didn't hesitate to bring me along with him for one reason or another, I don't know. I think he appreciated the fact that I was quiet and wouldn't speak unless spoken to, and..." Blake chuckled, a grin growing on her face, "and he was always anti-social, probably the reason we were always just a two man team. Anyways, we spent alot of time waiting around, and one day the strangest thing happened; he gave me a book, said it would keep me awake. The only other thing he ever gave me was food really..." Blake finished in half intrigued thought.

Yang tilted her head back so she could look down at Blake, retorting "there's one thing wrong with that story that I need to point out." The other looked back at her curiously. "You're still naive."

After rolling her eyes, she gestured to the many storefronts offering food and snipped back "get your damn food." To her surprise, Yang came back with a coffee for her that was a beige color from all the creme and milk. "Is that-?" Blake began, but her partner cut her off.

"Yep, fresh roast with the works and a hint of maple. Your favorite I believe?" The brawler sat them down at a two person table in the middle of the food court, upon which Yang put down her beer and chocolate banana.

The faunus sniffed the paper cup's contents tentatively, nodding in approval and assuring Yang "very, very close, thank you. I'll be back in a moment for the last few touches."

And so the brawler sat alone and bored the whole length of a minute, left to freely ponder her odd thoughts. Her thoughts were not of Adam or Blake's past, as much as Yang didn't want to admit she wasn't too keen on listening to any of Blake's confused internal conflicts, but was much more interested in something else. A recurring thought she recently had been contemplating was the idea of free will and chaos, and the terrifying possibilities they produce, such as what Yang could do right now in her situation. She could do something innocent, like walk up to the closest boy and kiss him, and no one would stop her, at least initially. Or she could go on a killing rampage, massacring a hundred people before someone stops her, not that she would. But that possibility just existing bothered her, just as when she was a kid. However, the worry back then was that someone else could snap and go crazy like that, but now, she looks down at herself and sees a battle bred combat machine with no form of power check keeping her from doing whatever in the moment. She felt that she was one to support rebellion and freedom all day long, but the feasibility that her or any hunter could wipe out a small population at random irked her. Sitting back down, Blake scoffed when Yang asked "what would you do if I suddenly started going on a rampage?"

"Before you continue, where is this going?"

"Uh, nowhere really..." Yang awkwardly admitted, shrugging her shoulders as she sipped her alcohol.

The blonde slouched in her seat and was faced to the side, her eyes scanning the many faces that walked into her field of vision. On the contrary, Blake sat proper and faced her partner, but had her head tilted down and kept her eyes closed, not particularly interested in the lively commotion of the mall, though she did run her fingers back and forth on the green stained glass table top to appreciate the wavy texture it had. In silence they remained, both relishing the refreshing taste of a good drink in the middle of nothing important.

"So how is your blind and deaf training, you know, with the aura sensing thing?" one asked the other with mild curiosity.

The brawler smiled, proudly stating "I can sense vague shapes at this point, it's pretty cool."

"Okay fine, what is it you were going to say?" Yang looked to her partner with a lost look.

"Hmm?"

"About you going on a rampage?"

"Oh!" The blonde fixed herself to face Blake, scooted forward, and grabbed her chocolate banana. Before she could even do anything, Blake preemptively face palmed and moaned, eliciting a devious smile from Yang. "Hold on" she giggled, "I haven't even started yet, watch." She took the banana and ran it in and out of her mouth like a lollipop. A lollipop that would belong to a guy. Any guy actually, unless he was really unlucky, in which case, he would no longer be relevant.

A sigh. "We're in public Yang..."

She went on like that for a good minute until she turned her head to see a young girl holding her teddy bear watching her, totally stumped as to what she was doing. "What are you doing?" she asked.

"Don't worry about it," Blake told her, "shoo shoo now, go to your mommy." The girl did as she was told. Yang made herself blush with embarrassment, yet she still beamed at Blake to say 'see?' Blake still didn't get it, and loosing patience fast, sighed and asked in indignation "what?"

"My point exactly."

"Dammit Yang! You don't just say these things without providing context, what are you getting at!? Use the words you're mom and dad taught you so you could communicate with people."

Yang held up a finger and took a deep breath to ready herself for her point, but looked side to side and commented "I'm not going to say anything about that" in regards to Blake reference to her parents, but continued to say "that bullshit I just did there, right? The banana? That's inappropriate, no doubt about it, but there's nothing stopping me from doing so much worse right now if I wanted to, and that's bullshit."

The black haired girl itched her temple for a moment, racking her mind to get on track with Yang's. "You mean like, how there's... no... real life... censorship?" she asked, testing the waters.

She waved her hands about in mixed agreement, adding "well yes, censorship I guess is part of it, but I mean beyond that, like, no real life... barriers. Uhm uh, like..." her hands continued to roll around about her wrist as she looked for the right word before finally "no real life traffic barriers!"

"Traffic barriers are in real life, uh, they're very real" Blake snarked condescendingly.

"No I mean, what's stopping me from doing something really fucking crazy right now, or some person pulling out a grenade and lobbing it into that churro stand right over there, or maybe what if all hunters decided unanimously that non hunters are an inferior race and exterminated them all?"

Blake scooted back in her seat away from Yang, answering "okay, first of all, that went somewhere dark really quickly, stop that, and second, I get what you mean now. And yeah, I guess it's a little strange to think things like that could happen literally any second. But guess what, they don't."

The other just leaned in closer, "but it could."

"Did you hear about someone's plans or something, should I be worried?"

"No no no, just thinking is all." Yang took back to her relaxed position, the elbow to her good hand propped on the arm rest so her fingers could fiddle about in the open air for all to see. "Anyways Blake, the reason I brought up Adam is because I know you would be curious and I don't want to risk you searching him out because of some... I don't know, hope for whatever, but you need to know that he was here and was looking for you. Watch out I guess."

"Don't be stupid Yang, I wouldn't look for him, what we had is over" she said with staunch resolve. Yang didn't buy it.

Looking at her partner doubtfully and skeptically, she asked harshly "then how come I haven't heard anything about about Sun this entire time?"

A confused look. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Maybe I'm just talking out my ass here, but you just had a bit of reminiscinating about a bad guy you obviously still have feelings for and I haven't heard you make one reference to the fact that you're with Sun right now. Now I don't know what that tells you, but it tells me you're obsessed with Adam to the point where you've forgotten that Sun exists!"

"What the fuck do you want me to do!? Just throw in the middle of conversation notifications on my awareness of other people's existence? 'Oh hey, yeah this thing about me and my past with Adam by the way me and Sun ate bon-bons yesterday-'"

"What the fuck are bon-bons- no, how about 'yeah, now that I think about it, Adam was a bit of a dick but hey, Sun makes me realize there's better fish out there, or in this case monkeys'."

Blake threw her hands up in astonishment of what she felt was ridiculousness on Yang's part. "Do you know how awkward that would be to force into natural conversation?"

Yang mirrored Blake, hands in the air but in a sense of defeat. "Okay, maybe yes, but it doesn't change a damn thing about your unhealthy reluctance to let go of the past."

The table shook as Blake smacked her fist down, asserting "dammit Yang! I am free to feel as I do and I don't need the clown to teach me how."

Backing off, they both leaned back to unassuming postures and looked around. After another long sip from her brew though, the brawler calming pointed out "you still read though." She chuckled once she heard the words out loud.

Blake smiled, confirming "yes, believe it or not, leaving the White Fang didn't remove my ability to read. He may have started me on books, but I read for my own reasons now." Yang's face broke into a larger grin and her chest heaved rapidly, quickly breaking down into uncontrolled giggling. "What?" Blake asked with an smile from Yang's infectious mood.

"I'm just thinking," she spoke between breaths, "you said the only other thing he gave you was food, right? Well what if instead of giving you a book, he just gave you more food to keep you entertained, and you would've been all like 'oh my gosh he gave me food! I better covet it' and instead of having a thin bookworm today," and another wave of chest bursting laughter halted her ability to speak, but after much effort, she finished with "instead we would have a fat house cat!" Something about the thought brought Yang to tears. The faunus in question just rolled her eyes with a smile. Eventually she calmed down though, sipping again at her drink and thinking out loud, "I guess he did keep you well fed though, I mean you have quite the well developed assets."

Blake looked at her own chest, than Yang's. "Says the girl with- you really think so?"

"Oh yeah" the blonde casually answered, her attention elsewhere, "I'd suck on them."

Her eye's widened. "Well this is getting weird, I'm going to the book store." Not hesitating to leave, Blake scooted back out of her chair and strutted away, leaving Yang alone once more.

"Shit" the blonde said to herself, her stare still fixed on the far wall, "said that out loud."

A plain looking woman arrested her attention however when the woman presented herself before Yang, the little girl from before just behind her mother. With her hands on her hips, she implored from the blonde "what do you think you were doing? My daughter told me about what you were doing and I just want to know how you thought that was alright for a public place!" she shrieked.

Clearly seeing the woman was about to become hysterical, Yang looked down to her half eaten chocolate dipped banana and to where Blake was sitting before, not all too keen to getting told off. Telling herself 'whatever' in her head, she grabbed the banana and licked it with small movements, then looked to the mother and went "meow" with the smallest voice she could muster. 

At a loss for words, the woman threw her hands into the air and dropped the issue, instead storming away with her daughter close behind. Impressed her act worked, the blonde sunk her teeth into the treat and pulled the wooden dowel from it, stuffing the yellow and brown snack into her mouth wholesale.

Elsewhere up north in the barren snowy hills of Atlas away from the prying eyes of the capital, the goodwitch Glynda stood before two bounded and kneeling men. While she was well wrapped up in a peacoat of black with purple accents, the two men, one the captured faunus and the other the pilot Ren retrieved, were both stripped down to their underwear and shirts, doomed to die in the cold by frostbite or hyperthermia if Glynda left them. 

Standing tall over them, her confidence and unwavering poise was but an act to intimidate them into answers. "So that's all you know then?" she asked the small, trembling bat faunus, not convinced in his confessions.

"I'm telling you that's all I know, Roman kept as many of us out of the dark about what our purpose here in Atlas was, I don't know anything!" he pleaded, tears forming in his eyes. Though she felt sickly and dirty for what she was doing, she didn't believe his ignorance either. As he said it though, she could make out far behind them a northern ursa major making it's way over to them, probably having sensed the two men's fear. Possibly Glynda's negative feelings too.

"Is that so? Tsk. Well I guess I'll just leave you here then, then you and that ursa over yonder can get to know each other quite well. But first, how about you? Should I leave you here?" she asked the pilot with a bored tone, but kept her hands in her pockets to hide that they were shaking.

The pilot was a trim man with curly blonde hair, and while very scared and flustered, he was still much more composed than his fellow captive, explaining to Glynda "I told you, I'm just a hired pilot for Jack Vorst, but that contract is null now that the rest of the hired team is dead I'm sure. I'm no threat!"

"I see" she said. She turned around and started walking back to the city, letting the two men to look behind them to see the charging ursa, still a little ways away. They began sweating profusely.

"Wait!" the bat faunus shouted, terrified. "I do know something! Roman said that in case of emergencies, we meet at this hideout!" he cried, tears now streaming down his face.

Turning around slowly, she made her way back to the men. Carefully pulling out a map from her inner chest pocket, she asked the bat faunus to point out where the hideout was on the map with his nose. Holding to his face, he didn't hesitate to touch the tip of his nose to a southern location relative to Atlas, to which Glynda marked down with pen. "Anything else you can tell me?" 

He nodded 'no'. Pocketing the map, she turned around once more and started walking away. Both men cried out for her, but she stayed her course. She thought about the faunus boy, and how possibly she could bring him back with her, spare him, but she knew the outcomes in store for him were all bad. She didn't have the means to in-prison him, as she does not have the facilities to do so herself, and she can't give him to the authorities as her methods of catching him in the first place would be enough to convict them of inter-kingdom espionage. That means any fate of his is left between strictly her and him. So, if she spared him, he could rejoin the White Fang and put someone she know's in danger, and possibly get killed anyways, or he could promise not to do so and live his life in peace. But knowing some of the reports Glynda has been keeping up on, the White Fang tends to silence their defectors, meaning Glynda would be potentially giving the White Fang member back or indirectly killing him. She stopped in her tracks and gave the boy one last look, the ursa, white armor covering most of it's body for both protection and camouflage, had but moments before ramming the boy head first. She wanted to save him, and she came up with as many solutions in her head as she could think of, but one fact shot down each branch of thought.

By Ozpin's orders, the White Fang member is to be killed.

So she watched with dread as the Ursa, standing ten feet tall, smashed into the back of the crying bat boy, knocking him several feet forward in the snow onto his chest. He screamed out as the Grimm followed through in it's charge and viciously attacked the downed boy, biting into his head and shoulders as it clawed at his back. Skin tore freely and stuck to the ursa's hooked claws, and the pilot could see the inner organs through the exposed bone and muscle of the boy's back, and the snow surrounding him rapidly turned dark red, like someone dropping food dye into a clear glass of water. The pilot in his panic crawled away as fast as he could from the Grimm, worming his body through the snow in hopes that it would continue it's savage brutality on the younger of the captives. The captor of course noticed this. She thought.

By Ozpin's orders, the mercenary pilot is less so of an issue if their assumptions were correct. His fate is up to Glynda.

Glynda walked beside the crawling man still holding her stoic facade and offered him a deal, stating "if what you say is true about being nothing more than a hired pilot, Beacon can always use more trained professionals like yourself. If we were to offer you a place at Beacon, could we trust that this whole debacle would never see the light of day?" 

She watched him watch as the Ursa silenced the screams of the boy when it's jaw clamped down on his skull, painting it's white mask with the pink and red substances of one's head. The pilot could make out one of the ears and a fair bit of sticky hair hanging from it's jaws when it turned it's attention to him and roared with such malicious anger. "Deal!" he cried, now on his rear as he stared at the approaching menace, "I work for 2,500,000 lien a year!" 

"A business man I see, that is, I assume that since you just named minimum wage salary, you expect us to provide housing and ships?" she mused, shrugging her shoulders.

"Yes!" he cried, grabbing at her legs, "but kill it! Kill it! Please!"

With a forceful wave of her hand, a concussive force exploded by the ursa's head, knocking it to the side, but it stood back up and went again for the two still living humans. A second hand wave knocked it to the side again, and was just enough to daze it so it couldn't properly stand for more than a few moments before falling back down again.

"Why aren't you killing it!?" the pilot cried out.

"It can't be known that we were here. When it comes to, it'll eat the body and and be on it's merry way, and no one will question what happened here" she said as she undid the knots on the man's wrists and ankles. "Anyways, before we continue, let me introduce myself. I am Glynda Goodwitch of Beacon Academy, and you?" she held out her hand.

He looked at her hand then her face, visibly scared of the woman. Then he saw the sweat on her still somewhat shaky hands, and drew some new conclusions in his mind. He finally took her hand, himself significantly more trembling. "Aaron Ryder... of Beacon Academy."

-End of Chapter 22-


	23. Reflected Emotions

The soft coughs of the heiress tethered the young leader back into reality, no longer tired thanks to her nap. Sitting up, she saw Weiss at the small table by the window, her eyes fixated on the concrete world outside. After some prodding to her belly, Ruby rose to her feet and walked to the kitchen, swiping a plain white bowl from a cabinet and emptying the strawberries from the fridge into it, stopping to ask Weiss "stirbris?" in an unconscious effort to be endearing.

Without looking away from the window, Weiss mumbled "what?"

"Stirbris."

"What?"

"Strawberries" she said this time, properly.

"Oh. No I'm fine."

Ruby nodded while she took all the strawberries anyways. Sliding the bowl onto the small table, she curled up on the chair opposite of Weiss. "What'cha thinking?"

The other gave a long and heavy sigh, reluctant in her decision to answer. "Just... coping with the fact that I won't ever reach perfection."

"Hmm. I thought you gave up that notion, like, a while ago. What's bringing that up now?" She said, tearing off the leaves of the red fruits before attempting to crush them with her tongue, albeit unsuccessfully.

"I was just thinking about when I first met you and where we are now, and how much has happened. How much we've changed. I was blind to think I could be perfect."

"Yep" Ruby nodded.

"Wow thanks, great emotional support."

She replied through a mouth full of food, "what do you want me to say? I mean, saying something like 'I wanna be perfect' is a pretty big umbrella... uhm... concept thing, goal, that is by no means reasonable in any way." She swallowed. "You're wasting your time by moping about something like that, I mean, damn."

Weiss chuckled. Then coughed. "Ruby, tell me, what do you see?" she asked, gesturing to the window.

"I don't know. A window. Blue curtains. A guard rail. Atlas."

"You're not wrong. Civilization."

Ruby sighed. "Okay, I'll bite. Talk at me."

"Civilization as we know it runs on three things; manpower, food, and dust. I don't feel that I need to explain that. Schnee Corporations provide the largest amounts of dust for everything from weapons to airship fuel from the west of Vacuo to the east of Mistral, and therefore is a big deal. If Schnee falls, everything could collapse. Schnee has a bad reputation with the faunus and the White Fang- you know all of this. You know where I'm going with this. We're on the brink of a civil war, and lots of bad things could happen. When I decided to become a huntress, or, when I decided to attend Beacon, one of the reasons why I chose to do so, and this is becoming more true as time passes, is because I... I want to become the head of Schnee Corporations. Not for the money or power, but because I figure if I could garner a reputation, a name for myself as some heroic huntress or something like that, I could usurp my father, by force if necessary, and stop this storm readying to unleash. Such a cornerstone of mankind's ability to survive, that being dust production, deserves noble intentions. At first I thought if I was a renowned huntress, the faunus would respect my contributions, and together we could work something out that would be mutually beneficial. Now, I would prefer to remove any oppression and cooperate with them fully, just, what ever needs to be done to keep that fire going-" her constant talking dried her throat, causing her to cough again.

"Well, gaining popularity, if that's what you mean, it isn't going to be easy I imagine. I'm not sure how'd you go about doing that..."

"Ruby... you know our team and Jaune's team are somewhat known... about... right?" Weiss was at a loss for words. Not because of any astonishment, but because she didn't know how to describe their certain circumstances. The younger girl's face became puzzled as she asked what Weiss meant. "I mean, the breach of Vale, that was a big deal. Front page news in fact. The tournament, and how far we got, that got us some attention, especially your stunt with Jack. The raid on the White Fang hideout was kept hush hush, so... And for what it counts, it was also front news page- bleh- front page news when you and Blake, uhm, stopped Fox and stopped the 'serial hunter killings'. We are actually on the map, though where might not be the best place." 

She sat up, "wait wait wait, if we're a thing- no, no one has mentioned anything to me, I don't believe it."

"Well," Weiss hesitated, "that's because alot of people are actually scared of you Ruby, they don't bring it up on purpose."

"I" she started loudly, stopping, then calmly replied "fair enough, I don't have a good record."

"Ruby?" Weiss asked.

"Well I'm worried now, you've hit your quota of saying my name." The girl of white rolled her eyes.

"I've only said your name like, three times, really."

"Yeah, well, the minute to name, er, name over time ratio is too much."

A sigh. "I just wanted to know, when I end up trying to save my family's name, I want to know where you'll be." Weiss finally looked directly at her partner.

Ruby held up a strawberry she hollowed out with her pinky up to her eye, looking through it to just barely see Weiss. "I assume the answer you want is 'by your side', am I right?"

"It would be nice."

"Then that's what it is." She threw the dissected fruit towards her mouth, but reeled back as it instead left a red stain on her nose. Improper depth perception.

Weiss laughed. "And beyond that? What about after?"

"Not dead. It would be nice if you weren't either. Priorities."

"It would be nice."

A comfortable silence fell over them, with the younger of the two on her scroll and the other back to staring out her window. Propping her feet up high on the table and standing her chair on two feet, Ruby read out the things she saw on her news feed, curious to what might grab her partner's attention. "Three movies are coming out this week, but... yeah, none of them look interesting." Weiss 'hmm'ed. "Looks like we're getting heavy rain instead of snow when we get back to Vale." Another 'hmm'. "Oh, did you hear? The flying vytal tournament coliseum thing, I'm blanking on the name, apparently it's repair is ahead of schedule and is expected to be ready finally by next years tournament. No more house rules tournaments, legit ones." Another 'hmm'. "Dammit, hold on, my scroll is being really slow."

"Oh?"

"Yeah, it's been pretty bad recently, don't know why."

"Hmm. Have you cleared the history?"

"What?"

"Have you cleared the history?"

"You can do that?" Ruby asked confusedly.

Weiss's eyes widened for a moment before grabbing Ruby's scroll, to which her surprise when Ruby didn't resist. Confirming her suspicions, Ruby had never deleted her history, something Weiss at first thought would be a treasure trove of delectable secrets. However, after some lengthy scrolling through the over bloated archives, all Weiss could find was weapon searches, dictionary definitions, video game cheat codes, and news articles. She was thoroughly disappointed. "Pfft. I should've figured."

"What?"

"Nothing. Here look, if you go under file, caches, and history, then choose clear history, it'll clear up space on your scroll."

"Wow I feel stupid" said Ruby as she took back her scroll. "Here, can I see your scroll?"

"Sure go ahead."

Following Weiss's instructions most of the way, she too looked up the scroll's history. "Hmm, no surprise, your history is totally blank."

Weiss shot her leader a look. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Uhm," Ruby stutter, unsure of the nerve she struck, "I just mean that it's clean and orderly, like you. What did you think I meant?"

"Nothing."

"Wow, persnickety much?" Ruby laughed.

Weiss scowled. "Hey Ruby, how does it feel to be one eyed?"

"Pfft, please. I only remember I'm one eyed whenever I walk into a door frame; otherwise, I forget." A wide smile appeared on her face, a result of remembering all the times she fell over herself when she was not careful.

The following motions of Weiss's soundless confused looks and active hand talking just drove Ruby further into a giggle fit. "How do you forget something like that?" she asked incredulously.

"Well it helps that most of the incident that caused it left me, well, kinda blind. The memory being mostly black and spotty, I have trouble remembering it really." She wasn't giggling anymore, but a smile remained.

"That's not something you forget."

"I can't remember what I had for breakfast today Weiss."

"Two totally different things Ruby. Besides, you can't pull that excuse on me; what was the lowest grossing weapon product six years ago?"

Ruby looked up to the ceiling, taking just a moment before taking a deep breath. "That would've been Tiki's .322 caliber hunting rifle the 'Dream Catcher'. On top of being uncomfortable for users to use, Rainmaker and Excalibur made competing battle rifles that far outmatched the Dream Catcher in every way, causing Tiki to have to give up his workshop as collateral for his commercial failure. He only did slightly worse than RGM that year, though they got to come back strong a year later-"

"Yeah exactly my point. What did you have for breakfast."

"...uhm..."

"You can't seriously not remember." 

"Hey Weiss, how does it feel to be disowned by your father?" Ruby snickered.

"Hey Ruby, how does it feel not to have a mother?" Weiss shot back.

"Hey Weiss, if we combined my dad with your mom, we'd have a complete family."

"But my dad's not dead Ruby" she said cooly, eyes squinted.

"And if they adopted Blake, team RWBY would be one be happy family!"

"I'd rather not be your sister."

"Pfft. Suit yourself."

-End Chapter 23-


	24. Regularizing Company

The arena was cold. Not just in temperature, but it was oppressive too, and inhospitable. Open ceiling just like the one in Vale, the circular arena was a glorified rock prison, a hundred feet wide in diameter area of deep, blinding white snow that contrasts heavily to the black rock of the walls and the pillars that break up line of sight in the arena. The only thing of color that broke the tranquil solitude was the viewing holo walls that lined the circumference at the mid and top points, though glass that was installed just in front of the blue energy walls simply reflected the black and white back at the contestants, trapping them once more in their questionable games.  
Crunch crunch crunch was the sound of foot steps in the snow. The snow was far from perfect though, and the feeling of freshness was long gone as the second years were not the first ones to use the field. Logically, the more intense battles were saved for last, thus the first year teams went first, then the second years, and so forth. Team BNSH faced off against the Atlas endorsed team, the Dukes, their name non-indicative of the members Penny, Phoenix, Jack, and Donnie like the other teams. Being the first second year fight of the day, and by extension the tournament, the spectators on the warm side of the windows watched in rapt attention.  
Crunch went Ben's foot step. Crunch. Crunch. Crunch. His walk now a slow jog. Crunch crunch crunch crunch. His jog now a run. Crunch-crunch-crunch-crunch-crunch. He sprinted, crunchcrunchcrunchcrunchcrunch. His linen cloak bellowed behind him as he punched forward with his shotgun gauntlets, similar to Yang's with the main difference being that his knuckles were completely armored with the dull grey metal as his semblance behaved nothing like Yang's. Donnie Orzabal, wielding his simple zweihander and donning his team's matching white winter soldier garb, met the simple punch with the pummel of his sword, reversed his grip, then with frightening speed lifted Ben off the ground with an uppercut of his long blade. Following Ben into the sky, Donnie's follow up attack was interrupted by team BNSH's resident arial combatant Nola, whom crossed her shotgun pickaxe and dagger to catch Donnie's downward smash. Successfully saving Ben, Nola still found herself flying back down into the ground, where Jack relentlessly hacked at her. Spending all of her shells to get Jack's frosted heat off of her, the ponytailed girl ducked and allowed her teammate Harumi to whip her segmented katana overhead and push back Jack. Nola took her moment to kneel, reaching under her cloak for her bandolier to reload. Harumi danced like a ballerina, her straight black hair twirling like the sharpened barbs of her blade, almost impossible to see as the beautiful polish of the metal reflected the glow of the snow and blended into the white. Jack dashed out of the way in time for Phoenix to let loose a wall of fire, her flame thrower speaking the ancient arts of Atlas by means of lighting the scenery ablaze. Utilizing her speed, the oriental girl gunned it and power slid underneath the flame and locked her weapon into a simple katana, slicing at Phoenix's legs and using the motion to pull herself into a kneel. Not having any of it, the fiery redhead cartwheeled over the attack as she retaliated via short sword. And like snakes, they sprung at each other with such violent lashes that only Sandell's boulder breaking lance strike got the noble descendant to back off of his teammate. The powerful thrust missed her, but the large boy didn't stop there, charging the smaller opponent to keep her from using her flamethrower feature by keeping close. Seeing an opening, the dark skinned fighter turned his lance spear backwards by tucking underneath his non weapon arm, then fired one of his high caliber sniper rounds, narrowly missing his target as she dodged expertly. From where she was standing but an instant ago, five identical swords shot at him, forcing him to raise his bell guard and just barely hold off the attacks without breaking. Then Donnie blind sighted Sandell as the Vale fighter focused on Penny, planting his blade with enormous strength and momentum into Sandell's ribs. The large boy went flying.  
He broke through the spectator's glass easy enough, but to the spectator's surprise, carried enough force without the speed to break through the holo wall, which are designed to provide resistance proportional to speed rather than force, and flew into a vending machine against a support column. Unlike Vale, the spectator area wasn't rows of seats but was rather a warm, decorated corridor with bathrooms, potted plants, live feeds, vendors, and of course, vending machines. Sandell didn't bother moving from his newly made throne, even as a rows of candy bars and bagged chips and plenty of broken glass rained down on his head. Instead he leaned his head back.

"Up and out man, that was kinda funny" chuckled Sun, who just happened to be watching the fight from a couple feet from where Sandell flew in from. He leaned in on the large fighter, reaching over his head to grab free chocolate.

Sandell sighed. "I don't feel funny, sorry to say." He didn't have to open his eyes to recognize the voice of the monkey faunus. "Correction, I do feel funny, funny bad."

"Here, I'll help..." Sun smiled, to which he began speaking with rapid tempo, "three guys walk into a bar, a huntsmen, a soldier, a bowler, a farmer, a plumber, a cat, and a caboose, and the bartender says 'what is this? Where'd all these people come from- I'm not serving the caboose by the way...'"

"Okay..."

Sun's speech only accelerated from there, "so the caboose starts whining like 'is there a 'nerd' sign taped to my ass or something? Is there a reason why people keep on giving me crap everywhere I go? I mean get this, every time I'm in line, people have this notion that I belong in the back of the line and put me in the back! The nerve!'"

"This is a bad joke Sun."

"Then the plumber is all like 'hey! I just want a whiskey is all and a milk for my cat,' and the bowler's asks 'hey, what do you say to a wet cat with a thirst for milk?' to which the cat says 'I don't know, but I think the better question is why are you talking to a cat you asshat.' Then the huntsmen turns to a fellow patron to the bar, and asks 'hey, Sandell, why aren't you in the fight?'"

"Because I'm out of the arena, I'm out..."

"Dude, you're still in."

His eyes finally opened in alarm. "Wait what?"

"Yeah, getting knocked out of bounds doesn't technically disqualify you here."

"Shit-" shouted the armored lancer as he rushed to his feet, sprinting past the gathered crowd of onlookers and through the holo wall and feet first into the fray.

Two of his teammates already out, Phoenix and Jack flanked him and took him down within fifteen seconds, Nola Gran following suit in defeat soon after.

The tournament was largely uneventful, though the battles were still exciting for the audiences watching them. Yang and Ren sat out for their team's fights, but Blake and Ruby made good use of the walls and pillars to ping pong around the arena as the snow became too slippery to keep traction on, though still lost in their fight against team Duke. In a turn of events, Weiss was the last one standing in her team as she and Phoenix dueled above the ground, Weiss's rapier and family inherited hard sigil glyphs to Phoenix's short sword and family inherited floating wisps of fire that followed her bidding. Both fighter's resembled each other in many respects, but their native elements reflected the differences in style. Weiss's ice displayed her structured and sharp prowess, and Phoenix's fire showed the free form and versatile counterpart, though the conclusion of who was the better would remain a mystery as the remaining three members of team Duke rushed Weiss. Team JNPR minus Ren made it to the last round, but despite their best efforts, no amount of planning could make up for the lack of a teammate and their opponents having an edge with Penny, whom Pyrrha refused to use her semblance against. In the end, team Duke won, a loss that the students of Vale were fine with, were it not for the sneer Jack gave Ruby. As Blake pointed out later in their apartment suite however, it seemed that Jack didn't suspect them in the slightest. With a week and a few days until St. David's day, teams RWBY and JNPR, along with a handful of other people, took the early airship back to Beacon, the other teams remaining until celebrations end. 

An hour into their flight, the eight students stood at the front of the ship overlooking the icy sea, and by strange coincidence all let out a deep breath within a few seconds of each other. Jaune was the first to point it out. "Okay, so it's not just me?"

"What do you mean?" asked Blake. She knew what he meant, but wanted to hear him say it himself.

"I mean, we can relax now, right? We're no longer in foreign waters, that is if your name isn't Weiss, we aren't relying on the hospitality of people we don't know anymore, we don't have to worry about un-scouted hostile threats, no espionage or sneaking or worrying about the ramifications, warmer weather, no tournament debacles, you know, all the stuff we had to deal with. We can go home, rest, party, sleep, and get on with our lives."

Everyone nodded, 'here here' they said out of sync. Everyone but Ruby. "Are you guys sure you're fine with leaving all the investigating we left behind to Ozpin's contacts?"

"Well, when you put like that" said Yang, "yes actually. If Ozpin trusts them, we can too. I think." She looked up and off to the side, unsure.

"I'm very fine with it," said Ren, still in pain and healing from his ordeal. "I have no qualms about putting our efforts back into Vale."

Pyrrha sighed. "A slow down in pace would be ideal, where nothing important happens, though knowing our luck, the moment we touch down everything will likely burst into flames, and it won't be because of Yang."

At this point, the conversation splintered, with Nora saying "it's still a bummer that none of us won the tournament though, that would've been cool." She slouch greatly in her posture, dropping her head down below her propped arms.

Ruby on the other hand, commented "actually, Vale's experiencing heavy rain right now and officials are worried about flooding and junk." 

"Well I'm sorry I lost the tournament for you" Ren pouted to Nora.

"Shit" said Jaune, "that means citizens might be relocated to Beacon if it gets too bad."

Pyrrha rolled her eyes, "oh for the last time Ren, we're not mad at you for sitting out of the matches."

"Just being honest, if we have to share our room with homeless strangers, I will draw blood" threatened Weiss.

"No Ren," Blake sulked, "it's my fault you got hurt in the first place, it's my fault you had to sit out of the tournament, it's my fault what happened happened."

"Please, there's plenty of room at Beacon" said Yang, "which begs the question actually, why is it so big? I mean, when it was first constructed, why did they anticipate and make housing for so many people? You could fit a fraction of Vale in there."

"I'm not mad about the tournament, besides, we didn't anticipate they'd be such a strong team. Heh, we know that Ironwood and company got a big plus out of it though, now that the combat effectiveness for their creation has been proven completely." Nora gave Ren a gentle bump of her fist on his shoulder with a smirk.

"They just wanted the-" Ruby smiled too hard to speak for a moment, calming down before continuing "they just wanted to play the greatest game of hide and seek ever. Seriously, rounds would last for days"

"And Blake, I told you to go, that was me, remember that." He wanted to tell Blake that her actions didn't suffer him any consequence, but he knew that would've been lying. She is a friend that he'd like to forgive, and while he knows he did tell her to run, the blood on his hands and the blood from his wounds left a scab that he'll have to pick away at on his own for a while.

"I'd play that game" said Yang.

"Pfft, as if. We all know whats the real secret about Beacon" stated Weiss confidently. "That secret being that underneath the school is-"

"Ozpin's secret sex dungeon?" interrupted Yang.

The heiress snapped her finger and pointed to Yang, responding instantly in perfect unison with Ruby "yes."

"Besides, Pyrrha won last year, we're fine" Nora thought out loud.

"I'd go in there" teased Yang.

"Yes" offered Pyrrha, "but first you'd have to impress the gate keeper Professor Goodwitch."

The brawler laughed, "I'd would happily-" She tripped in place. "-Not say anything about our teacher that I might regret. Nope. Not saying anything. Wasn't going to say anything. Pyrrha, get your mind out of the gutter, be proper."

And so they talked on, they talked about everything that came to mind, and in doing so talked about nothing, just the way they liked it. The south bound flight flew without issue or conflict, save for when Jaune needed to sit down after getting somewhat airsick, and the eight enjoyed the uneventful ride. Elsewhere, beyond their knowledge, others were not taking it so easy however. Roman Torchwick and company, having just arrived on the abandoned continent, immediately were met with bullpups ready to airlift them and their cargo inland through the heavy rain. "Pilot, take me to headquarters!" Roman shouted as he boarded the first ship to touch down on the shore.

"Sorry sir! I have orders to take you to airport bravo!" the pilot shouted back as he radioed in that he had Roman. "If you want any of them to go with you, nows your chance sir!"

Taking a look out over the busy scene, one could see a couple dozen faunus and a couple mercenaries unloading crates from the rickety barge they sailed in on and crashed into the shore with and loading said cargo into the five ships excluding the one Roman was on. He watched carefully as his prisoner, Penny's creator in chains, was boarded on a separate ship and let out a sigh. Of the other people he noticed, the thief called out Perry and a certain wolf faunus he had taken a liking to.

"What sir!?" Perry called to Roman from the bottom of the bullpup ramp.

"You two are coming with me! Leave the others!" Wasting no time, the ramp retracted as the two faunus came aboard, and the ship lifted upwards and over the tree line that met the shore. They flew over drowned farmland, empty roads, and little collections of ruinous villages before they arrived at the dead metropolis, of which their pilot weaved about the broken skyscrapers and ivy wrapped towers until he dropped the ship down onto an odd airstrip in the middle of the city that was held up by thick concrete columns and rusted steel supports. On the large airstrip were many people running around a collection of airships including a ferry class type and alot of supplies by the look of it. "Shit" spit out Roman.

Landing with a 'thunk', they disembarked and to Roman's pleasant surprise, Neo was waiting for Roman on their end of the airstrip, with Cinder approaching along with Mercury and Emerald. "I got your message, the puppet maker will be settled in!" shouted Cinder over the loud racket of commotion and motion.

"What's going on!" asked Roman.

"We scored some intel from one of our agents in Vale, we have a huge opportunity coming up with a small window to execute anything we got planned!" answered Emerald.

"You have a sales pitch in Vacuo to get to Roman, here!" finally up close to him, Cinder handed a laminated folder to the ginger. "Your mission details are inside. Everything you need to take is here and ready to go!" She waltzed with her two followers onto the transport Roman had used, but before she could leave, the thief had some questions.

Reading quickly and a frown upon his face, he asked "you're going to Vale!?"

"Yeah, what about it?"

"I don't know, the plan outline seems kind of... even sketchier than usual, I mean it's mostly up to luck really!"

"Read the plan B you idiot! Don't fail this time or you're dead!" was the last thing she said as the bullpup took of to somewhere else in the dead city.

Unbeknownst to the White Fang, further complications arose, and in the office of James Ironwood was the first place where they were discovered. Ironwood spoke privately with Penny upon serious matters that had came up as of late. As she stood solemnly in front of his wide white desk, the general sat uncomfortably opposite her. "Look, Penny, regardless of the current status of your father, he made it clear that once you were shown to be combat ready to the world, you would be deployed and our project would be revealed to the councils of Remnant. I know you want to look for him, but we have a job to-" his scroll buzzed violently, interrupting his thought. Inputing his password, his screen opened a live feed of a vital scan. A quick glance showed that the patient's heart rate had dropped close to nothing, and the name of the patient the live vital scan belonged to a particular woman by the name of Amber.

The general called Ozpin as fast as he could.

-End Chapter 24-


	25. Best Laid Plans of Mice and Men

1:00 p.m. Three days till St. David's Day morning.

Contrary to Atlas's dead cold snowy weather, Vale received torrential downpour that left the skies above gray and opaque. This however didn't slow down anyone who had plans, but for those without instead they had a good reason to stay inside and lounge about. Jaune did just that. He pulled a bed up to the window in his team's room so he could lay his legs across the blankets while he leaned back into the window frame, watching contently as the raindrops pelted the windows. The lights were off, so only the gray haze outside lit the room. He strummed his fingers across the guitar Pyrrha gave him last St. David's Day, playing soft cords that spoke to a soft passage of time. The door was open, just like team RWBY's door in front of theirs. He knew Weiss was sleeping in Ruby's bunk, and was pretty sure she fell asleep to his instrument, but had no clue where everyone else was except for Pyrrha. Pyrrha had gone into Vale to deliver presents to some military friends she said. Jaune played on.

"Hey, you doing anything?" spoke Yang from the doorway in a mellow tone. Jaune jumped in surprise.

"Uhm, nothing why?" he looked side to side.

"Wanna help me with something?" she asked in equal measure as before, a small smile on her face.

The knight put down the guitar and stood up slowly, responding simply "sure."

"Great" she said, "follow me." She walked off before Jaune could tell her he needed to get his shoes and hoody on.

A few minutes after he had left with Yang, Ruby strolled into her room with a brown gift box in hand, as packaged by the Vale postal services during celebrations. A close look at the postage stamp would reveal that it was a specialty parts package from a machine company, a product Ruby had special ordered so she could mod her Crescent Rose. On her knees in front of Weiss's bed, she put aside the brown package and reached under the bed, pulling out her beloved weapon and giving it once over to make sure it was as she left it. Once Ruby was satisfied it was untouched, she meandered over into JNPR's room, only to find it empty. All was not in vain though as she spotted Jaune's scroll laying in the ruffled covers of the window side bed. With a clear conscience, she helped herself to opening it up and checking Jaune's internet history out of curiosity, though was quickly confused as to why his history was completely clear too. This did not make sense to her like it did for Weiss, for she believed Weiss's tidy nature matched up to her tidy scroll, but did not see Jaune's laissez faire attitude matching up with a equally tidy scroll. Ruby put away the thought along with the scroll, and left for the school foundry.

A short while passed, and the rain filled silence in the hallways were once again augmented by living beings. Sun followed behind Blake to RWBY's room, brown gift package in hand. 

"You're still not going to tell me? If it's not for me, you can tell me who it's for" reasoned Sun regarding the package. He too had a curious mind.

"No, it's private" she whispered, pointing towards the sleeping Weiss.

"Oh, so it's for her?" he asked.

She rolled her eyes. "No, I mean, quiet, she's sleeping." The female faunus saw an almost identical brown gift package sitting at the foot of Weiss's bed, and figuring that it was someone's gift to someone else she pressed it with her shoe until it was hidden underneath so that no one's surprises could be ruined. Seeing as no one else was around however, she simply put her package atop the shelving unit below the window. Rustling briefly through some cardboard boxes under her bed, Blake pulled out her painting supplies and easel, then motioned to Sun that they were leaving.

As they left, Ren and Nora passed them by in the hallway, and the four gave each other silent greeting nods. Once out of earshot, the green and pink partners continued their conversation as they entered RWBY's room. "Anyways" started Nora, "who cares that the daily drama channel got shut down? The only good show they aired was-"

Ren cut her short once she reached into team RWBY's mini fridge and grabbed small containers of ice cream. "Wait, why are we stealing their ice cream?"

"Pfft, you said you wanted a snack right? Don't worry, all of Yang's ice cream is stolen from the underclassmen down the hall. Want one?" She held up one that was pistachio and the other chocolate and nuts.

He gave her a stern look. "Nora, you know I prefer pistachio. Wait, don't steal their spoons, I'm pretty sure those are theirs." She closed the silverware box.

"Yeah I guess we can just get the spoons from our room. Anyways, the only good show they aired was-"

"-'I Love Nova', I know, we watched that show all the time, remember?"

"Really?" she asked, head tilted. "I thought you said you didn't like 'I Love Nova'."

"No, that was 'Big Grimm Theory', I would stand behind the couch and watch 'I Love Nova' with you all the time." He tossed her a spoon from across the hall.

"Really? I never knew you were there... huh." She licked her teeth in thought as her eyes rolled around. "Anyways, that was their best show, and even that was 'eh', I mean that ending..."

The black haired boy jerked around to face her, spoonful of ice cream just short of his mouth, "what do you mean, that ending was great" he said calmly, yet a little less calm than the usual.

"Well it was great if you were a Nova and Liz shipper, but anyone sailing the Nova and Rebecca ship got torpedoed hard." Sighing heavily, she took a large bite out of her ice cream.

"Are you serious? Nova and Liz were perfect for each other, what about all the chemistry they had together? And you can't tell me that carnival date scene at the end wasn't a perfect example of their joy filled love" argued Ren.

Nora waved her finger disapprovingly. "Liz didn't deserve Nova, Rebecca was the quiet mature one, she totally completed Nova!"

A door down the hall opened up and from it came Ben's voice. "Nope! Nova was a loser, best girl Rebecca should've gotten with Timothy!" he shouted. 

Further shouting could be heard from inside team BNSH's room, and this time it was Nola who shouted at Ben saying "Ben and Timothy are the real item, that skank Rebecca did no one any good!"

"Wait, Ben?" Ren whispered to Nora, perplexed.

She laughed through a frown. "Not that Ben Biscotti, Ben was the butler."

"That's right, I forgot about him."

Another door opened up down the hall, a woman's voice, Loraine. "Who the fuck just badmouthed Rebecca! Someone's going to get lynched!"

2:00 p.m.

With the flick of a switch, Yang's chilly in-town garage lit up with the buzzing of fluorescent lights, and the strong smells of oils and grease and metal could be traced to their appropriate origins. Jaune immediately recognized the brawler's bumblebee, the black and yellow super bike, but didn't have the same reaction to the somewhat dismantled bike to it's left, a bike he didn't recognize. He said just that to Yang.

"I just bought it, that's why you haven't seen it. I got it real cheap from an idiot who couldn't figure out why it stopped working, and I've got it almost put back together. I just need help for the last part." She said this as she put her hair in a dark beanie and donned blue greasy coveralls.

"Okay. So what was wrong with it?" Yang had pulled up two red rolling chairs on either side of the gray bike and motioned him to take the left side one.

"Well, this bike like any other product ever had some flaws upon hitting the shelves fifteen years ago. So real quick, take this and this," she handed him a small brush and a clear dropper of what looked like water but smelled... like something sweet, "and get every prong and female connecter along this harness. Just a drop of that and paint it on the brass. It's uh, a sort of conductor that insulates- never mind, it's basically a guarantee that the connection is there when you plug everything in." The gas tank was removed along with the seat and rear wheel, and the harness Yang referred to was a collection of wrapped wires running from a junction box to the steering head, with all shapes and sizes of connecters along the way.

"Okay, get the prongs wet, simple enough, go on." He started his gentle work while Yang rolled the rear wheel to the back and started her own task of installing said wheel.

"So as I was saying, it had issues. One being that the wheel sitting adjuster on the swing arm was prone to slipping, and anyone who tried to overcome it by tightening the rear axle could crush the wheel a little, so I bought an aftermarket swing arm that doesn't slip. Second thing was that the vacuum pump on the fuel line was way too weak, and if you were unlucky, the bike could just decide not to take in any fuel, otherwise, the engine might run lean." Jaune nodded his head to this, and though he understood the gist of what she was saying, he would be at a loss if he needed to repeat what she told him. "But the problem this guy had was something different. The springs on the clutch on this bike have a lifespan, and when that lifespan is over, the clutch plates don't have enough force to engage the transmission, so what you get is a horrible chipping sound of asbestos teeth bouncing against each other super fast, recking the clutch basket, and no torque or power for that matter."

"Sure..."

"So I bought aftermarket springs that will outlast the engine and a new clutch basket!"

"Okay... so uh, why'd you get it though?" Jaune asked, peeking at what she was doing only for a moment before focusing hard on petting the tip of his brush on the dropper to get the right hair saturation.

"You'll find out." A silver wrench flew around a circle, making Jaune take a moment to realize Yang was just tightening the transaxle bolt to the wheel.

"Okay... so like, how uh, powerful is it? Like is it more powerful than your bumblebee?"

"Oh yeah, and I put on a bigger brake disc, but uh, power? The bumblebee is 1000 cubic centimeters-"

"Oh... that's what that means-"

"And this is 250 cc's."

"Oh."

Silence fell between them. Jaune fidgeted.

"CC's aren't like shotgun gauges, where smaller is bigger, right?" he asked embarrassed.

"No, more cc's means more power. Usually."

Silence again. It was a respectful silence though, as together they finished their tasks, then together they taped the wiring harness to the frame, mounted the gas tank, put in the seat, and screwed on the side plastic panels. Out of the blue, before anything could be said however, Jaune had to ask a question that had been bothering him. "Yang?"

"Hmm?" she stopped halfway in her attempt to turn the ignition on.

"Do... you... does... are you... does your hand still hurt?" he stuttered out, pointing to the hand Adam stabbed through. On it, even through the black grime she had quickly accumulated by reattaching the brake caliper, he could see the fresh scar on either side of her palm.

"Uhm, a little, why?" she asked suspicious of him.

"Uhm, how are you? Since that night- you okay? I mean-" he took a deep breath and dropped his shoulders, continuing "I got to talk to Ren about what happened to him, I know how he's handling it, but I haven't asked you yet how your holding up. I've just been watching and you seem as cheerful as usual, like nothing happened, but... it had to be... something to fight Adam from what I've heard. What was it like?"

She grinned like a fool. "It was absolutely terrifying, I was sure I was going to die, or at least would've were it not for Nora."

He in turn frowned. "So what, do you just smile, and, the memory doesn't matter anymore? You took to it very well. Too well."

Her grin then turned around, but spoke softly. "Jaune, we all handle our shit differently. That wasn't the first time I've almost died, and it won't be the last, and the only hope I have of not going insane from the fact that the likelihood of me living to see my twenty fifth birthday is slimming down every day is to make sure I've had a good a time as possible for when I do bite the bullet... or knife... or whatever thing gets me." The corners of her mouth turn once more upward. "Which brings us here. Here's your St. David's Day gift."

"What?" he said dumbly.

"I saw this and thought... well a lot of things actually, one of which was however that we could have a great time with it before we run headlong into not nice things again." She looked confused for a second, then correcting herself said "actually, with these we would be running headlong into not nice things, just in this case the not nice things are walls and guard rails and not scary monsters and psycho killers." She held two thumbs up to give her approval.

"Well, that explains why you 'needed' my help. You could've done this alone but I guess this is a good way of presenting it." He looked her in the eyes when he mouthed the words 'thank you'.

"You're welcome. Now come on! Lets get this party going outside!" she exclaimed happily as she threw off her work clothes and picked up riding gear from the work bench against the wall.

The boy scratched at his light stubble, asking "shouldn't we first run it in here to make sure it runs fine?"

"Naw bro, here put on this helmet! It raining like crazy outside after all!"

Open were the doors to Beacon's foundry, and inside, Ruby found Gorm Crauch the foundry master talking economics with Neptune whom she didn't expect to see, but found it to be a pleasant surprise. "Sup Neptune" she called from across the workshop.

"Hey, not much."

"You and Weiss talking yet?"

"Nope, don't plan to either."

"Fair enough."

"You here to do the mod you were talking about ms. Rose?" asked the older, darkened man.

Slamming her weapon down onto the table beside them she nodded 'yes'. "It's going to be pretty cool Mr. Crauch, a little complicated, but if I can pull it off, it'll be- oh are you kidding!?" she shouted in anger and self disappointment.

"What?" the two men mumbled together.

Her hand drew to her eye, then rubbed her temple. "I forgot the mod in my room, I gotta go get it."

"Don't worry about, I was actually going to go get something from my room, I can pick it up for you" offered Neptune. "What does it look like, does it come in a box?"

"Thanks man, it's in a brown postal gift package box thing right in the open, can't miss it."

"Alright, I'll be back!" said the young man over his shoulder.

"Thanks Neptune! Alright, well I guess while we wait for him, I can dismantle Crescent Rose so we're ready..." she looked to the towering man. "You are helping right? Sometimes I can't tell with you..."

"No I'm helping" he growled kindly in his too masculine voice.

Running through the halls of Beacon, the blue haired boy saw little life, but had to stop on his way to the dorms to see what his best friend and Blake were doing in the garden. Only taking a glance at the scene, he felt gross and quickly moved along. "I feel like I'm being punished for something" gestured Sun. He was set to pose in a lean against a particular stone wall while holding a umbrella like a cane, letting the heavy rain soak deep into his skin while Blake stood under an overhang and painted on her foot tall canvas.

"Come on, it's not that bad" she giggled.

He let out an exaggerated shiver. "I'm a Vacuo boy okay, the most water I ever saw as a kid was in the shower, and even though it's not snowing, it doesn't change the fact that it's forty five degrees out and freaking cold!" He put on a brave face, moaned, complained, laughed, he did whatever to distract himself from the weather.

"Awww, but it's so beautiful... as long as I get that smile just right, this picture will say something along the lines of, 'persistent happiness'. It's neat. Besides, you don't do this and I won't get you your present..." Sun's back straightened and his legs crossed. Blake rolled her eyes, "get your mind out of the gutter" she said, which rewarded her with an angry scowl of a boyfriend whose head literally sat inches from the run off of the roof gutters.

Neptune was somewhat alarmed when he returned to the dorms and instead of the peaceful burrows he left them as, he instead found a storm of passionately debating people raging on about the show 'I Love Nova', a show that Neptune hadn't heard about until just then. Some students tried roping him into the arguments, but he resisted and waded through the crowded halls to his room where he picked up some pre packed sandwiches before heading over to Ruby's room. The door was open yet somehow Weiss was still sleeping up on Ruby's bunk. Thankful for his luck, he walked in and took a quick look around, saw the brown package on the window shelving unit, and took it back with him to the foundry, trying his best to ignore the insanity along the way.

"I personally didn't like the show that much," he heard one girl talk, "I feel it didn't have enough Mr. Willow in it. He was cool, had a real silver fox thing going on."

"He was a pedophile" another girl told her in disbelief.

"He was misunderstood" said the first girl. Neptune made note to avoid her from that point on.

"Hey Neptune? Do you have plans for tonight?" he heard Coco call out from somewhere out of sight. Although the boy kept walking, he still asked why. "Me and some others were going to hang out and get drunk."

"I'll pass."

"I'd like a visitor's pass" requested Pyrrha. She stood at the north side gate to the Vale military center that sat on the south eastern point of the city with a large umbrella that protected her and her presents from the ever falling rain. Today she chose to wear her gifted red cloak over her school top and a pair of Jaune's cleaner jeans, feeling that strutting around with too much skin showing might be inappropriate.

The woman in the booth was busy writing something down on a pad of paper to notice the huntress at first, and started grumbling something unintelligible until she lifted her eyes and discovered that no one other than the famous Pyrrha Nikos. "Oh! Hello Miss Nikos! Visitor's pass?"

"Yes" she nodded.

The gatekeeper typed into her computer beside the notepad. "Purpose of visit?"

"I'd like to deliver these gifts to Vale's first division first and second squads" she said, holding up the two white gift bags.

The gatekeeper smiled, saying "since you are Pyrrha Nikos, I assume I can trust you when you tell me that those bags do not contain explosive devices, prescription medication, or volatile chemicals, and that we don't need to search you?"

"Yes" she smiled back.

"Aright then, just give me a minute here..." she finished typing into the system, filled in a form, then printed out a lamented Visitor's pass that was good until midnight with Pyrrha's name printed in bold along with her picture. Snapping it to a lanyard, she handed it to Pyrrha through underneath the protective glass. "For first division barracks, go straight until you hit the communications tower, turn right, go straight past the administrative buildings, and it'll be the first warehouse looking building on your left. Have a nice visit Miss Nikos."

"Thank you, have a good day!" Following the woman's advice, the champion made her way and watched as jeeps drove around carrying officers, bullpups and what looked like a new atlas line of VTOLs lined up for inspections, and a fresh batch of recruits doing harsh drills under the heel of a grey haired sergeant. Upon reaching the 'cheap warehouse looking buildings', she knocked on the front door only to get no response. Inviting herself in, an unexpected wave of noise spilled out, lots of talking, hard rock blaring, and exercise equipment being tossed around. Inside was twelve bunkbeds to accommodate twenty four soldiers, six lining each wall starting at the entrance to the two thirds mark of the barrack; the first three squads of first division, eight people each squad, each person donning baggy gray cargo pants and black tank tops; weight lifts sitting at the back of the barracks along with miscellaneous toys and a gas heater, tables covered in playing cards down the middle along mismatching corse thread rugs, and a notably out of place book shelf at the door; two green footlockers back to back sitting at the foot of every bunkbed; a body harness hanging from each bed rack equipped with either a bandolier or two magazines, a long gun be it a type of rifle or a shotgun, a side arm pistol or even a second long gun, and a melee weapon in a standardized sheathe; and finally torn red banners nailed crudely to along the ceiling for a celebratory feel. While she took a moment to recognize a portion of the faces and take in the view, everyone immediately recognized her.

"Eyyyyy! Pyrrha our girl!" shouted squad leader Hazel from the back of the barracks. The fact that he was batting a hardball repeatedly into a greatly dented patch of wall did not go unnoticed to Pyrrha. "What brings you here!?" As he said this, half a dozen men got up and started towards Pyrrha while everyone else went on with their business.

Once more she lifted the two gift bags, this time pulling the contents out for display. With her she carried four one liter bottles of hard liquor, each bottle a different poison. Someone she didn't recognize tried grabbing a bottle from her but failed when she pulled it back and out of reach saying "no no no now, you have to promise to open them on St. David's Day, otherwise it's not festive" in a playful tone.

"Ah Pyrrha, you traditional piece of shit!" faux moaned one of the people of first squad.

Hazel sat down at the closest table to the champion, scooting over two guys who were playing poker. "Come sit young lil' missy, we have some catching up to do!"

"Actually, I'm sorry it took so long, but..." she put down the bottles on the table and reached behind her back and underneath her robe and drew the custom twelve shot revolver that Hazel had lent her during the siege on the White Fang hideout. "This is yours." She sat down, and within moments she was surrounded by fifteen or so people, only six of which she recognized.

The tall sharpshooter drew a quick breath of cigar smoke, blew it out his nose, then took back the gun while laughing "I forgot what my second holster was for! Thought I was going crazy!"

"Thought you already were sir!" said the one name Higgins. They all laughed.

"Real quick, before I forget, how's Weiss?" asked one of the unfamiliar faces, though Pyrrha though she had heard his voice before.

"Wait, aren't you the..." she stopped, thought, then snapped her finger, "wait! You wore the two face helmet! Right?" 

"Ah she does remember" the darker young man retorted.

"Yeah, so, how do you know about Weiss?"

A brown haired man of equal age bumped the other's shoulder, "Diel here had a two month long internship program thing at the hospital in town and he told us about when your friend got stabbed through with her own sword. This guy here was the one who kept her alive long enough for them to fix her up!"

"Well I'll make sure she knows who she indebted to when I get back to Beacon. So, what crazy things have you guys gotten into?"

They all laughed again. "Crazy shit, you're gonna love hearing this" boasted the mountain of a man Samson, who yes, was named after Samson the Reclaimer he said before Pyrrha could ask the question.

3:00 p.m.

"Alright! You only dumped the bike twice and now you have the hang of it!" applauded Yang loudly so that Jaune could hear her through the sound of the beating rain and his engine revving and his insulated helmet. "Let's get some gas, and I'll lead you around town!" The two of them were still in the parking lot of the mini garage facility, but were ready to go now that the knight had learned to shift, brake, and accelerate reasonably.

"Alright, where are you thinking of going after we get gas?" he asked, somewhat giddy and excited.

She put on her gear and pulled her bumblebee up next to his silver grey bike, then pointed to her helmet. "Look, this is pretty cool, both of our helmets have short range radio that is tuned to a certain radio station I like, but if you say anything, it acts as a two way radio with my helmet. The uh, switch is on the left side to turn it on."

Searching with his fingers around the left part of his chin, he found a little plastic slider that moved easy enough and started picking up Yang's supposed radio station, of which was in the middle of a fresh boy band song. "Really Yang?" he said, shocked though when he heard his voice echo in Yang's helmet.

She laughed as she shook her head, stating "I like the station, just not every single song that it plays, okay? So! Are we ready to go?" He heard her voice twice, once muffled and a second time crackly from the radio.

"Yep, lead the way Yang oh fearless leader."

"Alright, here we go!" The click and sudden jerk of her bike signaled her switching to first gear and the pur of the bike picked up volume as she pulled out of the parking lot and into the clear streets as everyone was using the highways that ran over Jaune and Yang's heads. Jaune followed suit and while his initial shift and acceleration made a gut wrenching banging sound from improper clutch work, he rode out onto the street as well and quickly picked up his speed to thirty five miles per hour. He laughed as a funny sensation ran through his feet and hands, something about sitting on what amounts to a seat with two wheels and effortlessly speeding up to a speed faster than anything a normal person could hope to acheive by running, and the sensation of this fast seat that could lean over but will pull itself straight back up, and then the glee experience when turning the throttle and watching as the asphalt underneath goes whizzing by inches from your feet. Then Yang had him hit his first real turn at speed at the first intersection.

"What took you so long Neptune?" Ruby asked halfheartedly as she lowered a drill press onto her new muzzle compensator block, which was still a steel silver color. Gorm Crauch simply sat and rummaged through a drawer for carbon coated bolts and appropriate thread taps.

"The cafeteria was selling their old stock at ten percent the original price. I got you guys some chips and cookies that are only a few weeks expired." He put down the brown gift package onto the oily table top along with paper bags fill with foods.

Ruby chuckled. "Pfft, cookies don't expire for a long time, too much sugar." They didn't speak for the thirty some seconds where the metal cries of the drilled metal overpowered everyone's voices.

Crauch smeared black on his face as he itched his beard, muttering to himself "I know chip don't expire, but I'm pretty sure the same doesn't apply to cookies kid."

The youngest of them stepped to Neptune's side and thoughtlessly reached into one of the paper bags and stuffed her mouth with the first thing resembling a circle, spraying crumbs everywhere as she said something about something, totally unintelligible. She then took the brown gift package and popped the lid off and dumped the contents onto the black stained wood of the workbench, still smeared with black oil and red grease. But instead of seeing metal bits and pieces scattered across the table, the three of them gawked as black laced lingerie unfolded onto the tabletop, Ruby choking on her mouthful of food and spraying even more wet crumbs onto the mess. A second later they then all burst into a fit of laughter.

"What the actual fuck?" wailed Neptune through a shortage of breath, "I guess I got the wrong box!"

"I would say so, yes you did boy!"

"You sure you, heh heh, you went into my room, right?" asked Ruby.

"Yeah, Weiss was asleep on your bunk, which was weird because there was a lot of hallway traffic and arguing going on."

"Hmm, I guess this must be... Blake's I guess" she hit another snag of giggles.

Both men raised a brow. "You think so?" asked the younger.

"I'm not certain, but it's not mine- well I'm certain it's not mine, but it's not mine, Yang prefers white and tan colors-"

"-You mean like ivory and peach?"

"-Yeah whatever, and Weiss doesn't need a bra, so-"

Crauch's one hand slammed down on the table and the other was held to his mouth to badly suppress the laughter and Neptune was clapping, howling "it's true! It's true!"

They laughed some more, and once they settled down a bit just enough to catch their breath, a look at the pile of lingerie would set them off again. Eventually, Ruby looked at the postage stamp on the lid for clues. "Hmm. Doesn't say where it's from, just that it's to this Beacon P.O. box, so... whatever, I'll just put it back in the room and find mine. I'll be back quickly."

"Okay, have fun kid."

"Oh wait!" Ruby stopped before she began, "hey Neptune, I finished drilling this out, you wanna carbon coat it for me while I'm off?"

He didn't hesitate to take the surprisingly light clump of metal from her, but had to ask "uh, I do that with, uh..." he spun in a circle and zeroed in on a machine in the corner, "that thing, right?"

"Yeah" said the foundry master, "but you're going to need to refill it first."

"Oh, and round out this edges real quick too on the grinder, I don't want it chipping." Her instructions done, she sprinted off and out of the foundry. Then turned around and came back, grabbed the box of lingerie, then left again. She took a shortcut and went outside, jumped up onto a nearby roof, and made a beeline for her dorm. Stuffing the package into her hood and making use of her speed semblance, Ruby zipped along any flat she could touch her feet to before launching from a running jump, at one point passing right over the heads of Blake and Sun in a courtyard garden.

"So uh, using water colors in the rain, we're real smart" commented Sun as he stroked a thin brush of black paint across Blake's cheek. They sat cross legged on a bench facing each other, the girl's eyes closed as the other had his fun making patterns.

"I guess I'll just have to stay out of the rain then" smiled the faunus girl.

"I could say something right now, but I'm not" grinned the monkey.

She couldn't decide whether to scowl or smile, but said "now that's smart."

Ruby found herself atop her dorm room building fairly quickly. Knowing which window was the one to her dorm, she got to her knees and climbed over the edge of the roof, dangling directly above her target with only her hands gripping the wet and slippery concrete edging. Assuring herself she was lined up, a look downwards threw her off balance just enough for her fingers to slip, a single whisper escaping her mouth as she fell backwards, "shit." Speeding past her window, a boost of semblance upwards gave her just the right distance to grab onto the decorative stone below her window that once allowed Neptune entrance in. Barely managing to get her knees up onto the edge, she let out a sigh of relief when her window opened without resistance and allowed her to finally get in. She paid no attention to the mess she tracked in, closed the window, dropped the package from her hood onto the window shelving unit, reached under her bed for her actual package, and patted the still sleeping Weiss on the head. Deciding against making more of a ruckus, she took the hallway which was, contrary to what Neptune said, empty with the sole exception of Coco, whom was carrying a crate filled with beer to her room. "Mind if I ask what that's about?"

"Nope, you're too young. See ya" shot back Coco as she hurried along.

The young girl's eyebrows flicked up for a moment before returning to a sated state. However, just being mildly curious, Ruby checked into JNPR's room to see if anyone had returned. Sure enough, Ren and Nora sat with their backs to a bed as they watched something on the relatively untouched portable TV. "Hey guys, what'cha watching?"

Neither of their eyes moved to meet hers when they answered "I Love Nova," irking Ruby a bit in the process.

"Oh, uh, that's... interesting." They didn't seem at all interested in her presence, which in turn gave the curious girl an idea. "Hey, can I see your scrolls real quick?"

"Knock yourself out" said Nora after her and Ren tossed their precious scrolls behind their heads and onto the bed they leaned on.

Taking the chance before they changed their mind, Ruby scrambled onto the bed and opened up the scrolls, searching the history tab on both only to find both clean and clear. Ruby was further perplexed.

After hearing some tales for a bit, Pyrrha felt confident in her ability to name each member of the first two squads within the barracks, people who she was becoming good friends with at a rapid pace. Starting with the squad she met first when she and Mercury fought a year before on St. David's Day there was squad leader and their sharpshooter, the tall, eccentric, and laid back Hazel; combat medic Kringle, old and gaunt like, yet stern; heavy rifleman Samson with a boisterous attitude to match his massive frame; riflemen Higgins, Remarque, and Wash, the first a smaller man and gleeful counter to the taller and more stoic second, and Wash sitting comfortably in the middle; and the assaults Patic and Wilms, the former a keen eyed card player with hints of sadness because of his old friends Cage's death back at the White Fang's hideout raid, and the latter the newest member of first squad and the most timid soldier in the barrack.  
Second squad she didn't know as well, but was showed the symbols they took on that they drew with chalk onto their black full face helmets, which turned out to be their nicknames. Their squad leader was Dusk Gaz who donned the skull helmet, Hese Albus Diel, a name Pyrrha immediately gave up remembering, was the medic who took on the two face helmet, Isaac Slate with the crying eyes, the woman favored a cat face, their sniper bared fangs, the pyro specialist enjoyed a helmet with a blank expression in the form of a straight horizontal line for a lip and two unequaled sized dots for eyes, the scary looking man drew a simple 'x' on his mask, and the squad's butt monkey sketched a smiley face. Rather simply, they went by Twoface, Cry, Cat, Fang, Blank, X, and Smiley respectively, Dusk being the exception as he was referred to as 'sir'.  
There was one mask however that she remembered back during the raid that she didn't see anywhere now, which made her nervous to ask about as it didn't seem like a question to bring up while everyone was having a good time. The opportunity presented itself eventually though when the combined two tables of soldiers switched focus from Pyrrha to just messing around again, allowing the champion to ask Dusk privately about the crow face soldier.

"Oh that guy?" he said nonchalantly, "yeah that was huntsmen Qrow, he was undercover or something. He's fine."

"Oh!" chirped a relieved Pyrrha. "Qrow huh? I feel like I've heard that name before."

"Beats me, guy never said a word to us, though he seemed to like his alcohol."

Patic flipped his cards over and leaned back lazily, calling out his cards "three of a kind and a pair, I win." This was met with many moans and a few laughs. "Hey Pyrrha, you should come to our barracks party for David's day, we'll drink your things, we'll do some batting, light up a tree with lighter fluid, we'll call up some strippers..."

Her cheeks turning a hue redder she responded with Yang in mind, "well I could just give you my friend's number, but I don't think she would appreciate the notion very much."

They all laughed. "She's funny" someone said, but Patic just grinned while he shuffled the card deck.

"I don't know though, I'll definitely be hanging out with my friends, so wherever they'll be, I'll be." 

"Not that it matters" said Samson, "but do you think you know where your friends are now?"

She tapped her nose a few times, pondering. "Knowing recent events, probably relaxing."

4:00 p.m.

Following behind Yang, Jaune raced along the twisting highways, bobbing and weaving their way through the slower traffic. At ninety mph, the wind beat their bikes around like a ship in a tsunami and at times pulled viciously their helmets up and down and side to side, the rain slammed hard enough for Jaune to reconsider his definition of 'pelting' and both were completely soaked through, the noise was so loud that they couldn't hear the screaming of their engines but just the radio and all the forms of water surrounding them, and the mist and spray kicked up by the regular traffic made even the red brake lights two seconds ahead of them invisible. Rain ran across Jaune's visor, obscuring his vision only slightly as the wind immediately blew it off. Before they knew it, some cars were following behind them, but they weren't cops, they were daily drivers who were getting excited.

"Hey Jaune" Yang spoke, "I say we push it harder."

If one looked at his current state, leaning the bike precariously as he raced past pedestrian cars, his body stiff with only his coat tails and his jean's ankle cuffs buzzing erratically in the wind like a jigsaw, head locked forward, it might appear he was focused and in the zone. That wouldn't be inaccurate. His eyes never averted from in front of him, and he was in a groove of sorts, but he was also giddy and shaking wildly, shivering even, this speed and danger irrelevant to combat was unique and truly delectable. At Yang's suggestion he didn't hesitate to answer "yes."

An electric guitar signaled the start to a new song, setting the two motorcyclists off like hot bullets. They went from ninety to one-twenty quickly, Jaune maxing out as he was in his top gear and the throttle was opened all the way.

The woman singing the song sang "All the gold, and guns, in the world, couldn't get you off.  
All the gold, and the guns, and the girls, couldn't get you off.  
All the boys, all the choices in the world~!"

Their engines screamed, and the red and blue lights of the police set off in pursuit of the two racers.

"I remember when we were gambling to win, everybody else said better luck next time,   
I don't wanna bend, let the bad girls bend, I just wanna be your friend, is it ever gonna be enough?~" The last line repeated several times over, and echoed even more in the teenager's minds. 'Is it ever gonna be enough?' was the question indeed, as Jaune kept sacrificing any remaining illusion of safety to keep up with Yang, such as riding in between lanes to remove horizontal travel and hugging his bike even harder and closer to lessen his air resistance. The chasing cars were lost to the white mists. The bike felt like it was about to explode.

"All the lace, and the skin, in the shop, couldn't get you off~" Back in a courtyard garden, Sun had Blake pinned against a wall with his lips to hers and a hand crawling under her shirt.  
"All the toys, and the tools, in the box, couldn't get you off~" Back in the foundry, Ruby drilled a small hole into her rifle frame just below the firing chamber.  
"All the noise, all the voices never stop~" Back in Vacuo, Roman walked away from the deal with a briefcase filled with money in hand and his cargo stayed behind.

Jaune and Yang came up behind a truck and passed it on either side, but before they could get out of it's way, some gravel fell from it's hold and pegged Jaune's helmet, cracking the visor. With the force similar to that of a bullet hitting his head, he almost lost his balance, the gray bike wobbling terribly. Fortunately he saved it, though fell behind Yang some ways. "You're not getting away from me" he whispered, afraid that his breath would somehow make him lose balance again, though it only took him a moment to realize that the water spraying into his helmet was an actual concern. 

The song hit it's last segment, the lines "Is it ever gonna be enough" and "more and more, more and more" were layered together and repeated over and over, somehow convincing the speeding knight to not stop. Yang's tail light was still barely visible ahead of him, and it's motions gave him fore warning of the turns ahead. He scooted his rear even further back on the seat and tucked his chin onto the gas tank and leveled out his feet, leaning hard right when the long curved section of the highway came up. The asphalt flew by an inch from his right foot toes, and the entire bike shivered like it's rider, the elements stacking against its efforts. Water continued to fill his helmet and shot up his nose, making so that Jaune had to cough to keep up breathing at all. Removing his attention enough from the road, he didn't notice the car he was coming up behind quickly enough for him to work around it, and instead hit the front brakes. The bike straightened up from it's lean with a shudder and lost traction with the road. "Shit" he whispered. Before Jaune could tell what was happening, his flying body set his line of sight went from looking down at the road to looking at the headlights of the cars he past to the white sky and then back to seeing the tail lights, that is before he touched back down to earth. Luckily for him, the highway had just straightened out from it's curve, making it so that his trajectory lined him up to follow the shoulder mostly, unluckily that didn't changed that he was launched from his bike at a hundred and fifteen mph. He bounced several times over as his shoulders and knees hit the ground before sliding on his back with a clockwise spin on his body. From his perspective he got a 720 degree view of the highway, this time noticing his bike sliding just behind him. The back of his head and shoulders hit the point of the road where the ground meets the concrete barriers, and acted as a extreme brake to his sliding, but was then countered when the heavier motorcycle slammed into Jaune's feet with it's headlight and the wheels rolled against the barrier. Almost standing on the front of the bike, he folded his arms and waited out the momentum that carried them onwards. Jaune passed out once he came to a complete stop.

"...ecked the bike. Oh, you awake?" he opened his eyes to Yang standing over him. She still had her glasses and helmet, and actually was sitting on her bike seat with one elbow resting on her gas tank.

"Fuck, what?" he mumbled incoherently. He looked around himself, every movement causing extreme pain. First thing was first, "is there a pool of blood anywhere?" he asked through his non-existent visor.

Yang clicked her tongue and examined him from her bike, saying "nope, do you think you broke anything?"

"I don't think so. Sorry I crashed your bike by the way" Jaune moaned, dropping his head onto the ground.

She waved her hands dismissively, saying "as long as you're okay you tough bastard. Besides, it's your bike. Ready to go home?"

"Uhhhhhhh... pain... it was fun, I can't lie about that, but... yeah. Let's go home." He weakly lifted an arm before dropping it down again.

"Okay, but let me real quick call the tow truck."

"Okay, so explain this to me, what is this weapon mod exactly?" Neptune asked the small girl as she took measurements of the receiver box.

Without diverting her attention from her disassembled Crescent Rose, she explained "I'm making it so that when my weapon here is in it's scythe form, it retains its locomotive recoil, but when I have it in gun form, it's recoil is dissipated so that I can reasonably use it as an actual gun."

"Wow you're boring" teased the blue haired boy. "Are you getting tired of having to stab it into the ground overtime?"

She reached for another stale cookie. "It's just more practical, I mean what would happen if I got caught in a fight in a tight hallway? Bad news is what you know."

"I was just giving you shit" he chuckled, then dumped the crumbs of his potato chips directly into his mouth.

"Anyways, yeah, I got a new muzzle compensator and drilled two directions of holes in it; one so that the escaping gases amplify the recoil and the other so that it brings the recoil force down. The sliders I was working on acts as a valve gate for the different holes. When Crescent Rose is collapsed, the slider is shoved forward and closes the forward port and leaves the rear port open, lessening recoil while drawing it out into scythe form pulls the slider back and the escaping gases aid recoil."

"Okay, what about what you're working on now?" he asked, pointing to the assembly behind the firing chamber and scope where the black ring use to be.

"I'm installing a selective blow back receiver, which will absorb recoil only when the whole weapon is collapsed. Later I'm going to come in and rework it so that I can have three modes of firing, but for now the two will have to do."

"She's going the distance on this weapon, and I can respect that" Crauch commented, "I would enjoy my job a fair bit more if I had to deal with more people like her rather than the little shits I get normally that build their weapons then leave it at that, break them, and leave them for me to fix."

Ruby's eyes lit up. "Wait! Neptune, can I see your scroll?" she asked. He handed his scroll over hesitantly, and sighed heavily when she grabbed it and immediately left black fingerprints on the white casing. "Okay, some one needs to explain this to me" she asserted with some frustration, tossing the scroll back to it's owner, "why is it that every person's history that I've seen is completely blank when I check it?" Crauch and Neptune looked to each other briefly with brows raised. "I know I've seen you guys use the internet, so why is everyone's history always clear? I don't get it?"

Neptune cleared his voice, "uhm, well, if you don't clear the history your scroll slows down-"

"Yeah no, I didn't clear my history once in the three years I've had my scroll, and while it slowed it down, yes, it still worked. That means the scrolls shouldn't slow down for a good while, so why does everyone seem to compulsively clear it when there is no real need to?"

"Well you see..." Crauch slowly spoke, obviously uncomfortable, "I'm going to tell you a secret, but you didn't hear it from me, otherwise I might get in trouble." Neptune took a step back, and Ruby leaned in. "Porn" he said.

At first, Ruby's face remained neutral, then went through a myriad of gestures and emotions that ended with her hands pulling at her hair, bemoaning "Ew! And I touched all of those scrolls! Neptune! You! I ate the cookies you touched!"

The boy looked offended. "Okay, first" he held up a single finger, "every guy does it, don't look at me like that. Second," a second finger arose, "grow up, I wash my hands. And third," his thumb stuck out as the third, "You've been covered head to toe in blood-" Crauch's face lit up with a blend of worry and surprise, "-so I don't see why some private germs are a big deal... oh yeah, and fourth, those cookies were expired anyways." Neptune tilted his head to dodge the wrench thrown at his face.

5:00 p.m.

It being the middle of winter, nightfall consumed the town in the blink of a eye, and the lights of the city were only now coming on. Jaune limped alongside Yang as they went up the cliff face walk way up to Beacon, their footsteps three inches deep in running water. A look over the water to Vale and they could see that the harbor was about to spill into the lower streets, something that made them both appreciate the high ground they lived on. While it wasn't silent by any means in their walk home, the two teenagers were too busy looking at the waterfalls and flooding around them to talk, at least until Yang finally spoke about what she had on her mind.

"Jaune, can I tell you something?" she asked, her voice vulnerable.

"Yeah sure, what is it?" He tried sounding supportive and confident, but he was scared by the possible routes this conversation could take.

"I feel alone..." Yang sighed.

It wasn't what he was expecting. "Oh. Why?"

Another sigh. "It's just, Blake's been super close to Sun, Ruby avoids socializing as much as she seeks it out if that makes sense, Weiss has been distant, and I guess, I don't know, I feel like everyone's got a certain... someone, but I feel like I've got- I mean, if everyone is with their someone, I'm left the odd one out." She looked to and fro while she said this, and whenever he saw her eyes they pleaded for help. "I guess I just wanted to hang out with someone one on one for a change. Who wasn't Blake. Don't worry by the way, I'm not going to steal you from Pyrrha or whatever."

"If I may ask, why me though?" He tried not to sound conceited or self absorbed, but he felt he needed to know why.

"That's easy, I obviously can't talk to Blake about it, Weiss and Ruby wouldn't be impressed by my non-fatal issues, Ren and Nora are kinda exclusive to each other, and Pyrrha I think would just be too nice about it." They chuckled. "I imagined you would have listened."

"Well, how do you feel now that you've gotten to hang out?"

A sigh. "Still lonely. And stupid. I can't believe I pushed you into crashing."

He fluttered his hand. "I enjoyed today. I think that it actually stomped out the rest of my motion sickness. As gifts go it was pretty cool."

"Thanks, but... I feel like I'm still missing out on something. Something besides the obvious." She ran a hand through her wet hair that stuck to her black leather jacket.

"Is there anyone you like? You can talk to me about it if you want. Maybe I could help you if I knew."

Her finger wrapped a lock of hair around itself, but once she thought about his question, it dropped the lock. "No. Not really."

"What about, uhm, how about Sage?"

"Barely talk to the guy."

"Uhm, I guess Scarlet isn't your type, uh... just making sure, you are into guys right?" he asked boldly. She returned a stern look. "I don't know what thats supposed to mean" he told her honestly.

"Jaune, you don't need to play matchmaker. Besides, you did good today, you gave this girl a good time."

The knight's face contorted. "It sounds bad when you say it like that. Look, I have an idea." He stepped ahead and turned to face her with arms wide open. "I think you might need it." She laughed. Shrugging as if to say 'why not', she opened up her arms and stepped into his embrace. They wrapped their arms around each other, and stood for a bit. He petted her hair affectionately and rubbed her back. While their clothes were wet and by no means warm, the space where they met felt much warmer then the wind and rain the rest of their bodies endured. He squeezed as a invitation for her to do the same, an invitation she took and almost crushed him with though luckily he resisted the urge to cough or let go. "See, you deserve this." When they separated, he patted the top of her shoulder once more and asked "you feel better?"

A look to the ground before raising back up again, she smiled and answered "yeah, I do actually. Thanks bro."

"No problem. Now lets go and see what fantastical trouble our teammates have gotten into." The knight held out his arm, of which the brawler wrapped her own around, and up the steps they continued. "Wow, I'm getting flashbacks right now. If we see any strangers when we get to the top, I suggest we run. Agreed?"

"Agreed."

"Oh look at that" said Ruby as she was packing up her gear. A look at her scroll showed that the council of Vale issued a evacuation order. "Hey guys, the water front of Vale is flooding. People in that area are being relocated to higher ground."

"Well shit son, the last time that happened I was still a boy" Crauch commented calmly. "It should be fine really. People get a little antsy, but once the water recedes it'll be fine."

Ruby smiled maliciously. "Hey Neptune, wanna go for a walk on the beach?"

"How about a 'no'?"

12:01 a.m.

"Wow, look at the time" yawned Pyrrha, checking her scroll. "Oh, I got a message from Glynda?" She sat with the rest of team JNPR and team RWBY minus Weiss in the former team's room watching 'I Love Nova' when she received the message.

"What's it say?" asked Jaune.

She pulled her hair back into a ponytail when she said "I'm supposed to meet her and Ozpin in his office apparently. I guess I'll be back guys."

"This is probably a good point to stop watching then" yawned Ren. Everyone else started yawning too as they stood up to change for bed.

Ruby was the first to the door. "Yeah, sleeping sounds like a plan. Goodnight guys." She let Pyrrha out first before crossing the hall to her room and opened the door to an interesting smell. She walked in a little and switched on the lights, almost shrieking when she looked to Weiss's bunk to find Coco, Sage, and Cardin asleep and naked underneath the covers based on the articles of clothing on the floor. Blake and Yang had similar reactions, all of them mostly furious at the fact that the three delinquents chose their room to take the after party. Feeling too tired to 'deal with this shit' as Yang put it, they pulled out the blankets from the bed and wrapped up the three now apparently drunk and passed out scandals, and dragged them out into the hallway still in the blankets, threw their clothing out the door, and locked it shut. Once that was handled, Ruby was the first to point out that Weiss was still asleep. "Weiss, you still asleep?" she asked loudly. No response. 

"How is she still asleep? She's been up there for like twelve hours or something" postured Yang.

A chord of fear played within their team leader, prompting her to jump onto the bed and start shaking the heiress while calling saying her name. Blake and Yang looked to each other worried. When she didn't respond, Ruby started shaking harder and got louder.

"What?" the girl mumbled then coughed.

The other three let out a deep sigh of relief. "Oh thank all that is sacred" Ruby panted, "you've been asleep for like, forever Weiss, and three people had sex in your bed, why didn't you wake up?"

Her eyes were still fluttering and confused, and her tone gruffly. "I took some medication for a headache I had, and it put me to sleep- wait what? What about my bed?" She sat up, obviously disoriented.

"Never mind" the brawler said, "just sleep with Ruby tonight is all."

"Okay, but first, I need to eat something..."

For the next ten minutes, team RWBY did their night time business before lights out. Weiss ate some food and got real pajamas on, Ruby took a shower, Yang changed, and Blake opened up her package to find the black lingerie she ordered covered in crumbs and reeking of dirty oil. She was less than pleased with Ruby.

Cinder lowered her White Fang mask over her face and pulled up her hood. Mercury and twenty others stepped up behind her, fully clothed and armed. Together they stood on the corner of a street and faced one of the few shelters that was housing the evacuated citizens, with more still filing into it.

"Must be almost a thousand of them in there" Mercury mused. "Leave a few alive?"

Cinder laughed. "There are plenty of cameras inside. Leave those intact. Oh and the faunus too of course."

"Lets get to work then" growled a enthusiastic radical White Fang fighter. Thus began the start of a new time.

-End Chapter 25-

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The song that played is called 'Gold, Guns, and Girls' by the Metric.


	26. Uncivil Disputes

It was about an hour into the morning when Ozpin and Glynda finished explaining the situation to Pyrrha up in Ozpin's tower. The rain finally let up, no longer pattering against the windows black by the back drop of night, the brass gears churned slowly, and Pyrrha sat beside herself in a daze. "Do you understand?" was the last thing Ozpin said.

She did, but didn't. For so long Pyrrha thought herself to be grounded in reality, thought she knew what she knew and understood what she didn't, but the fact that she was discovering that there was an entire house on the other side of the closet door she knew as the world was a hard hitting epiphany. This is what she learned. Under the school, there is a vault. In this vault, there is a girl. This girl is named Amber. Amber is one of four maidens, the maidens from the tale of the four maidens in fact. Amber is the fall maiden. Magic exist, and she is one of the four natural carriers of magic. Amber is about to die. One of the bad people are the cause for this, and when Amber dies, they will inherit the rest of her greats powers. Ozpin wants Pyrrha to inherit it first. Ozpin wants Pyrrha to steal a young girl's soul, of which doing will almost guaranteed consequences, and will kill Amber. Pyrrha would have two souls in one body. If Pyrrha says no, Ozpin will find someone else. Pyrrha would be then putting someone else in the position to suffer. Ozpin says she has to the choice to accept the proposal or not, but must give an answer within a couple days, as Amber's body has finally given up and only has a pulse because of the medical equipment pumping her blood for her. Pyrrha sat for several minutes, staring blankly at the floor, not answering her headmaster. The two professors knew she understood, and she felt she only had the one option of what to say, so they let her cope with the burden they just dropped onto her lap. "I don't know what to say" she breathed into the air.

All three heads in the room jerked to attention when Glynda's grey scroll sounded a quiet but high pitch alarm. The witch wasted no time to part open her scroll and read the emergency alert on her screen, her eyes widening and jaw dropping as she did so. "What is it Glynda?" Ozpin asked in a uncharacteristically worried voice.

The female professor took a weak step backwards with a small gasp. "The White Fang have attacked a relief shelter and the surrounding area. They left before the police could get on the scene and the- the-" Glynda's breathing picked up and she couldn't speak anymore. The scroll dropped onto the desk in front of Ozpin while the upset woman began pacing back and forth with her hand to her eyes.

Ozpin read out loud the numbers. "Over four hundred dead, hundreds in critical condition. All non faunus. Authorities still counting bodies. Vale is in a state of emergency." The old man leaned backwards into his chair, his knuckles white from gripping the arm rests too hard, and his eyes drifting to his glass ceiling.

In the deafening silence of the geared room, the redhead's ears rung louder than any scream, and her head pounded harder than any hammer.

Weiss woke up faster than her teammates when the door to their dorm room burst open and spilled the yellow light of the hallway in to the previously pitch black den. The one at the door was Harumi of team BNSH who shouted "guys! Wake up! There's been a massacre, and Grimm are approaching! Get the fuck up!" 

Ruby still asleep beside the heiress, Weiss in her panic shoved the young girl off the bunk bed and followed right after her. Harumi had flicked on the lights at this point and the last two members of RWBY too were up and scrambling for clothes. Everyone was in the hallways running for the locker rooms and assembling hall where Glynda was supposedly giving instructions. Weiss has the only one of her team awake enough, thanks to her already being rested, who could comprehend the total chaos they were getting into. Only an hour into the new day and the intercom blared commands in Glynda's voice of what to do and where to go, everyone was shouting and yelling, some sobbing, dozens of teams torrented down their hallway alone, some people were half naked with their clothes dragging behind them, some people were in their pajamas and stripping as they ran, and some people with their weapons and clothing were stumbling to avoid the other people and were leaving giant dents in the sheetrock of the walls. Weiss herself just ran for the locker room as her locker had all of her equipment and some spare clothes. 

"What's going on?", "I can't believe it!", "There was a massacre," "The White fang will pay for this!", and "how many Grimm?" were the phrases being stated, cried, shouted, and whispered under everyone's breath on their way out, driving the tension even further through the roof.

Still wiping the sleep from their eyes when they sprinted into the assembly hall, they heard Glynda call out orders as the teams rolled in. "Team coffee! Northwest landing pads! Teams lapis and juniper, southwest landing pads! Team ruby! Northwest landing pads!"

Team RWBY ran alongside the three members of team CVY to their given destination, running out the door a moment after they entered. Ruby asked Coco "what's going on? I get that we're going to the transports, but where are they going?"

"I heard the northwest landing pads are for students going into forever fall while the southwest is for those heading into Vale. I guess Glynda wanted us handling Grimm instead of peacekeeping!" 

The cold damp air outside nipped at their noses, but at least the rain had stopped. There were staggered lines to both the north and south landing pads in front of the school where bullpups were swooping in and picking up three teams at a time and lifting off to predetermined drop zones. In the distance, Vale's two modest cruisers, two small frigates, and one medium destroyer could be seen taking off and running patrols in the sky, and in good time too. Student's too distracted by their visible breath didn't spot the incoming nevermore and griffons before the first gun shots were heard. Further shouting ensued. Teams RWBY, CVY, and first year team ORCA scrambled onto a transport that unknown to them was being piloted by the man Ren kidnapped back in Atlas, Aaron Ryder. The ship flew them north first several miles, dropping the youngest first, flew east, dropped off RWBY, then went off further east for the last three passengers. The starry night and bright moon were entirely invisible due to the heavy cloud coverage, and with no sun in sight for hours to come, and every team without a faunus member found themselves hopelessly blind. Though, when one thought of how Glynda chose the teams, only a few teams would be so handicapped.

"Grimm this way!" Blake shouted, her echoing gunfire and general motion directed the rest of her team on where to run to. Being on the northern side of Vale and closer to the shore, it made sense that the resistance they met was far lighter and in fact a waste of their skill. After only thirty or so beowolfs and some other small Grimm, Ruby shouted taunts to attract trouble while Blake climbed a leafless tree and scouted for more conflicts. The sound of screams and gunfire reached for miles in every direction, making Blake's head spin. "If we choose any direction, we can help!" she shouted down to her team.

"Okay!" replied Ruby, "we'll make a path around Vale, clockwise, let's go Blake!"

Dropping down four stories, they followed the faint outline of their token faunus and the sounds of her footsteps breaking sticks and crunching leaves. "If there's White Fang in the city, shouldn't we head that way so we can stop them?!" asked Yang with confused concern.

"The White Fang are already gone!" answered Weiss.

"Wait, then what did they do?! Why are the Grimm coming out in force?!"

"There was a massacre!" they heard Blake cry out, tears in her throat.

Weiss was the one to pull out her scroll, and read out "five hundred plus confirmed dead! All non faunus!" 

Ruby spotted red eyes behind some bushes, prompting her to try her new gun form and fire from the hip to great effect. "How could this happen? Why did no one stop them?" They could hear the rage brewing inside their leader.

"I'm not reading this while we're running! We'll find out later but first we need to thin out the incoming herds!" 

"Fucking fuck!" Yang screamed, her voice breaking, "Vale is going to fall apart! People are going to riot!"

"Goliath!" warned Blake.

When they ran into the small clearing formed by the stomping beast, Ruby took note of the hulking Grimm, way too big to be taken down conventionally. "Weiss, light it up with fire, we need to be able to see it! Yang! See if you can break it's kneecaps!" Both members followed their orders to a 't', but once the fur of the colossus Grimm ignited, the four youngster's hearts fell even further. The blazing fire gave light for a great distance, lighting the lower clouds even, but in the sky they saw the swarms of flying beasts previously invisible, the sizes range starting from human size up. Military or hunter, everyone had their work cut out for them.

The break of cloudy daylight signaled no change for the better, and at seven o'clock in the morning, flying Grimm still hovered at a distance from Vale, columns of black smoke signaled burning parts of the forest, and only those with great trigger discipline had any ammo left. The smell of burning Grimm hair, wood, and sulfur that was caught in the rising winds kept the tired fighters attentive and cool, but did nothing to ease the nerves. Glynda sent out a message saying bullpups were out to retrieve teams in a rotation to report and recover, and a link in the message, once pressed, would make their scrolls act as beacons for the drop ships to home in on.  
In the midst of a black and freshly scorched clearing, team RWBY set their scrolls to transmit and took to resting for just the moment. Ruby counted the bullets in her last clip, Weiss snapped open her Myrtenaster and stuck a dust speed loader into the colored chambers, Blake paced around like a bouncy ball caught between two walls, and Yang looked worryingly to her teammates arms crossed. A sigh of relief was heard when the whirring of a drop ship made it's way over the peak of the trees and flew low under the Grimm in the sky to their location. 

Back in Vale, team JNPR found themselves holding a defensive line around the relief shelter and it's front street with police and several other teams to protect the fire department, medical personnel, and survivors of the attack and keep those in critical condition safe from another attack. What they were really doing however was protecting the faunus who were in the relief shelter during the attack from the either outraged or sobbing citizens of Vale disgusted with the race responsible for the attack. Behind their defensive perimeter, if they dared to look, was a hundred or so emergency services people scurrying around doing the best they could to clean up and organize the mess. Rows and rows and rows of dead people laid with no space between them and white sheets barely covering them for the little decency it provided, red splotches seeping through to show the scene's true nature. A fraction of the covered bodies were much shorter than the rest, children, a sight that had the hunter teams traumatized on arrival. At some points, puddles of blood provided by one corpse soaked through the adjacent deceased, and the depressions in some of the white covers revealed partial body parts confirmed to have been the result of grenades in an enclosed space said the firemen. White ambulances drove in pass barricades and were loaded with four wounded people on stretchers at a time and immediately drove away presumably to the nearest hospital while another truck took it's place. Firemen provided first aid to those who desperately needed it, medical personnel rushed to stabilize those who didn't like they could wait, and police were inside the building examining the video feeds.  
Try as the defensive line might, the front row protesters lost it after hours of ranting and heartbreak, and worked to occupy the line enough for the rest of the vengeful horde to throw bricks and bottles. They saw behind them some faunus men, women, and children cowering as the hail of hard objects rained upon them, fearful of any further escalation. And as though their minds jinxed it, Jaune watched in horror as a man in the crowd just out of his reach pulled out a hand gun and shot at the people inside the protective line. A woman fell dead, another howled in pain, a police officer shot the man with the gun, and any semblance of order that remained disappeared completely. Nora's vision went blurry when she felt a brick strike across her face, and so she used her long handle to force back a dozen rioters. She tasted blood from where she bit her tongue. Jaune and Pyrrha hid behind their shields and stepped forward, trying to reclaim lost ground, but poor Ren had no means of crowd control, and without the ability to fight back, suffered many a person's punches and slings.  
It only got worse when a fraction of the police, without sympathy for the relatively unharmed faunus, gave up holding the line and backed away. Violence was upon the vulnerable faunus. The students panicked, and were forced to make a decision. "Knock them down!" ordered Jaune, demonstrating his command with a shield bash to the chest of a charging man, knocking the wind out of him. Pyrrha did likewise with her shield, both falling back to protect the faunus. Ren and Nora weren't so fortunate to have a wall of metal to indirectly attack with, and so shoved at the overwhelming hordes. 

"I didn't realize how south we ended up!" Ruby shouted over the wind to her team. Once in the air, they could see where they ended up from where they started, and the ship flew further south, dodging the frequent attacks by flying Grimm. They could see the pilot searching for teams in the area on a tracking screen, but found nothing. The four girls looked to each other anxiously, unsure if there weren't any teams in the area besides them or if something had happened. 

"I'm sure the main Grimm ground force has been taken care of!" stated Weiss, weakly hanging onto a railing.

"We should check it out!" Ruby retorted.

To their surprise, Yang agreed with Weiss, "we should rest at least a little, we've been at it for hours!"

The ship started to turn around, the pilot giving up on finding teams. "You rest then! Blake, if you're good, let's go!" The scythe wielding warrior jumped from the ship, the faunus not far behind. Blake used her ribbon and some tall trees to slow her far fall, while Ruby carefully shot downward at the last quarter length of her fall, hitting the ground harder than she would've like to, grunting to her singular teammate "those were my last bullets."

"Will you be fine?"

"Yeah. Let's go."

Back up in the air, Weiss checked her scroll and pulled Yang in close. "What are you doing?" the blonde asked flustered.

"It's a live feed from the Vale Council, shut up!" Her finger dialed up the volume and they both leaned in to hear over the sound of air and nevermore shrieks.

An older bald man in a business suit with a distant glare stood before a podium that had a council seal bolted on for legal authority. He spoke slowly, punctuating for intense emotion, his face red. "I need not remind everyone of the past events in the last year or so alone. The Breach of Vale, where our walls were broken through and we were attacked by the Grimm, thanks to the White Fang, 26 innocent lives lost. The breakout for the renowned criminal Roman Torchwick, where a agent for the White Fang aided the notorious criminal in escaping, 32 hardworking prison officers murdered in the process. And dozens of armed robberies and attacks, again, by the White Fang, with a dozen casualties as a result and tonnes of valuable dust gone. Roughly seven hours ago, the White Fang launched an attack on a overcrowded relief shelter in the western commercial district. As of the current count, 640 people are dead, with many still in critical condition, too many for our doctors to treat, so many more are projected to die. All of these deaths are non faunus." His ragged and deep breath showed how he felt. He was furious. "Men, women, and children. Children. The faunus say they want respect, and the White Fang say they want to be seen as equals. Well guess what? Their wish has come true. We will respect the faunus. We have heard the outcries from the citizens of Vale, the voices of those who lost loved ones in the attack, and we, the council, has decided to respect the faunus." Baffled murmurs could be heard in the audience. "We will respect them as a enemy army. The kingdom of Vale recognizes the faunus as a enemy of the state from this day forth. All white fang members will be considered enemy combatants, all faunus will be arrested and considered prisoners of war, and all who attempt to aid faunus will be tried for treason. This is the start of the Second Faunus War. We await the response of the other three kingdoms." 

Weiss and Yang looked to each other, feebly. "What do we do?" the bruiser mumbled. 

Ruby and Blake rejected Weiss and Yang's calls, believing that nothing could have happened in the last few minutes worth taking away their attention for. Their feet dashed over the obvious brush and twigs, the only sound produced by them being the patter on the wet dirt. The tree density eased up and revealed a small clearing centered on a rotten tree stump with a somewhat recognizable school mate slumped over upon it. The thin brown haired boy was on his knees and his head laid down on the stump, the top of his head facing Ruby and Blake directly. "Hey John Doe" Ruby barked, "wake up!" They circled around the stump to flank him on either side.

"Ruby, I don't think that will wake him-" Blake let out a short scream. At the same time, they spotted the best possible reason for why he would not wake up. The back of his neck was red and purple, a ligament of his spinal column protruding against the skin, making it obvious that his neck had, well, broken. He was dead. Though his face was down, from the side they could see his lifeless eyes open and looking down to nothing. He was cold to the touch.

Both Ruby and Blake had seen a handful of dead people before, but only Ruby had seen a dead comrade in Sky Lark, while all the others were enemies. It really did make a difference. Even then, Ruby too was having trouble dealing with this dead friend. The rose's breathing became shorter, and her stomach churned, and a slight ringing in the ears took effect. The same, except worse, took ahold of Blake along with a loss of balance and tears welling up. "Shit, shit, shit..." Ruby mumbled in rhythm, focusing her mind the best she could. After great hesitation, she tugged on the hair to identify the face, recognizing the boy as a third year on one of the more timid teams. Judging by the direction his head could tilt and his position on the stump told her that he had been struck down while he was running away, breaking his neck in the process. "This means that we already dealt with his assailants up north" she said, "now either the rest of his team got closer to Vale and left him, or they were felled further south."

Blake was sniffling again, clearly distraught and distracted. "But Ruby, we didn't see anyone near where we were picked up-"

"Here" the younger one confided, "we can check his teams status on his scroll." She searched the boy's pockets gently, still perturbing the faunus regardless.

"I saw him yesterday Ruby. He was eating lunch in the cafeteria, talking and alive and now he's-"

"Yeah dead, I'm aware" bit back the girl. "And you know what, so will every single fucking Grimm be once I find them. Found it." She torn open a ripped pocket and pulled from it a shattered scroll, useless to them in it's state. She slammed it into the stump frustrated. "Are you good?" she asked. She wasn't being kind when she did so however, rather she needed to know if she was going on a hunt with help or alone.

"No, but I'm with you."

"Good, let's go." Ruby took a deep breath along with the boy's gun blade and checked the revolver cylinders for ammo. 

"What are you doing? That's his weapon!" accused the black haired girl. Respecting the dead was the least they could do.

"Get off my back Blake, I don't need a inquiry on ethics right now. He had two bullets left, and I'm going to use them" the one eyed girl stated in an almost husky voice, hoarse from all the shouting previous. She mounted her scythe behind her to make room for the gun blade in her hands.

The second division of Vale's infantry landed one of the two frigates midair on the cliffside of Beacon Academy, boarding ramps dropping onto the previously occupied landing pads. Soldiers without helmets poured out armed with shotguns and submachine guns, all white and boxy as was standard of off the shelf Atlas equipment and not of Vale's jagged black and slim style. They stormed the front doors where they met face to face with Headmaster Ozpin, armed with his cane. A whole battalion stood before this single man, unable to pass, as he guarded the door like knight did for his tower. They did not raise their weapons, as Ozpin's authority was well understood. The soldiers parted ways for a vile looking man, face worn and cratered, and he approached the headmaster on the steps with arrogant pride. He said, in his boisterous holler, "Headmaster Ozpin, allow us entry into Beacon so that we may arrest the enemies of the state who take residence here! We have orders straight from the Vale Council, and failure to comply will bear consequences!" He held in Ozpin's face a actual parchment scroll with a seal from the Council legalizing his actions.

"I care not for your damn paper, these students are under my protection, and if you want to touch them, I will strike you down" growled Ozpin, laying the end of his cane atop the commanding officer's shoulder.

"That's just what we've been waiting to hear from you after all these years you relic" the man grinned. "You've been such a thorn in the council's side, and now you've given us the authority to arrest you on account of treason. By the way, if you attack, all taking residence will be considered hostile, so consider what's best for your precious little terrorists." The professor stared at the man, his blood rising to the skin and burning him from the inside, but he knew the position he was put in. The vile man simply grinned harder. Ozpin lowered his cane. "Good, arrest him."

As two soldiers ran up the steps to take away the headmaster, Ozpin marveled at the seeping evil from this officer, just how obviously malicious he acted, how much he made it known he was enjoying the way the scene was playing out. It then occurred to him, "you're one of them. You traitorous bastard-!"

Upon Ozpin raising his voice so did the soldier's guns, and so he sealed his lips. As they took him away, he dug his fingernails into his palm and drew blood as he watched the front door burst open and the flow of men went in, ruining everything he stood for.

Following south, a limping Grimm Alpha stood someways into a meadow joined to some clear rolling hills. Ruby launched into a red spiraling blur, crossed a hundred plus feet of distance from the tree line to the Alpha, and lodged the boy's gun blade two feet into the Grimm's skull, pumping the trigger for what it was worth. She let go of the blade and jumped back, the fifteen foot tall black body careening backwards and causing a small tremor on impact. The biggest immediate threat dealt with, Ruby regretted taking notice of her surroundings. First of the lesser evils was the northern bound Grimm horde approaching. Within a few minutes they would have to deal with half a dozen Goliaths, several King Taijitus, some Death Stalkers, a combined one hundred Beowolfs, Boarbatusk, Creeps, and Ursai, and surprisingly, foreign Grimm could be made out in the crowd. A handful of small Raptor Grimm, human sized Centipede Grimm, and a single Manticore Grimm. Ruby and Blake could only wonder why such Grimm were so far north, because asking the monsters why was a less than sterling idea. They were coming from the far side of the rolling hills, the dirt torn asunder by the heavy rain fall and a temporary mud trench running through the low points.  
Closer to them however, and much more destructive to their state of mind, were the scattered bodies of Grimm already dissipating and the dead bodies of school mates. At a glance, they counted at least six. The method of execution for each one was unique and rated differently on a scale of grotesqueness, the worst they could see was the first year girl who had been split open from her belly to her throat and missing half her face. Blake puked. Ruby took out her scroll slowly, her hands shaking and pale, and sent a message to Glynda, the message asking for cavalry, and then pressed the link to turn her scroll into a transmitter. She stuffed the white device back into her little side pouch, empty of ammo, and dragged her scythe behind her as she limped lethargically towards the mass of evil on the other side of the hill.  
Blake was sobbing, her free hand rubbing the obstruction from her eyes. "What are you doing?" she asked, lost in the mess of the scenery.

"Mother needs to express some rage." The little figure's gait transformed from a lazy limp into a low jog and then into a furious sprint. Blake heaved her chest to get air to her head, her vision blacking out. Stumbling forward, she followed lead.

JNPR leapt from their airship a short ways onto the stone steps of Beacon, the front doors already open. A minute later they pushed through the bustle of students and soldiers and found Glynda close to where she was when they left hours before in the meeting hall. She asked what they were doing back at Beacon, and they explained how the faunus they were protecting were detained by the military. Reciprocating, Glynda told them that Ozpin was arrested and soldiers were doing the same to the faunus students.

In the moments where Jaune, Nora, and Ren remained still to register and process all that they were learning, Pyrrha forced the words from her mouth, the words that she knew would change her life, almost certainly for the worst. "Glynda" she said, catching the professor's rapt attention, "with things falling apart, the center can't hold. We have to do it now."

"What- What are you talking about Pyrrha?" asked Jaune.

"You three" she gestured to team JNPR minus Pyrrha with three fingers, "wait here and keep an eye out for anything that could go down. Follow me Pyrrha." She understood perfectly.

Pyrrha followed the older woman into the elevator that would take them to Ozpin's office, thinking they were getting some sort of key or another before going into this 'vault' she heard of. Instead, Glynda typed something into her scroll, pressed a few buttons on the cabin control panel, and the assembly started falling down with haste. The two of them remained silent for the duration of the ride, both sweating more than they cared to admit. The doors opened to the great vault that Ozpin talked about, it's size mind boggling to Pyrrha. Questions of why it was so enormous creeping into the student's mind. The stale air was illuminated in a creepy yet interesting emerald green glow that did nothing for the comfort of mind. Glynda made a beeline for straight out the door that the other had no choice but to follow. Pyrrha knew that her professor was a competent huntress, but the sight of her doing something was still odd to her, similar to seeing one's first teacher outside of school for the first time, or hearing them swear.  
However the mundane thoughts lasted for no more than the minute it took for Amber and the machine to come into sight. The maiden in question was half naked and hooked up to more than a few machines that pumped and beeped to keep her alive, Amber incapable of doing that for herself anymore. Pyrrha's hands were shaking and the hairs on her neck stood tall. This was it she reasoned, this is where she would take a girl's life. The cover on the adjacent and empty pod opened up for a being to step inside, an invitation that Glynda saw no reason to explain to the champion, rather she just gave her a unsettling and worried look. Her high heels clapped against the metal inside the pod, and her back shivered on the touch of the cold padding. A weak nod gave Glynda at the control panel permission to commit the deepest sin. And that was it, thought the teen, she had sentenced someone else to die.  
Guilt flooded her almost as much as a searing pain and light show did after the door closed on her. All she could do was shut her eyes and scream when the feeling of molten iron pumped through her veins, a thousand icy needles stabbed her head, and all of her internal organs being wretched out of sync, the last actually happening. She couldn't see Goodwitch's own expression, one of similar guilt but also pity and regret. The woman leaned into the control console, let the instrument take on her whole weight, as her own will didn't seem up to the task.  
The screaming stopped along with the yellow and orange lights that encompassed Pyrrha, signaling Glynda to let her out. Stumbling out of the pod, the girl fell to her knees, her whole body battling the combined feeling of intense heat and biting cold like it had just awoken in a cold sweat from the worst of nightmares. The other woman rushed over to help her up, and that's when Pyrrha experienced the strangest thing she had ever felt in her life. At the sight of her own body and the face of Glynda, Pyrrha had felt the expected emotion of familiarity, but on a weaker note felt simultaneously unfamiliar and off balance. When Goodwitch asked how she felt, what she felt would've been an easy answer describing pain and general unpleasantness, there was a second option to instead scream out asking where she was. But Pyrrha knew where she was. Why would she want to ask where she was? She felt mental traction of a sort when she said she felt terrible, not because it wasn't true though. Pyrrha grew even more afraid.  
And that pit in her stomach only continued to sink when the image of Amber's now lifeless body set in, the blaring of the heart monitor signaling a life lost drilled deep into her conscience. She felt dirty and she felt confused, as if she had died and was looking at her own body. No respite was given when the elevator door blew open by way of explosives, the destruction echoed twenty times over on it's way to the two huntresses ears. A handful of soldiers marched in, shouting commands and warnings, and Glynda could only imagine the consequences of Amber's discovery.

From her boots to her waist, Ruby was covered in frigid and gritty mud, and her hair was plastered to her face from sweat and blood from a shallow gash above her missing eye. The pain and soreness in her shoulders and arms kept on reminding her of her fatigue, and there remained many Grimm to be slain. The small girl had just spearheaded a Beowolf thrice her weight and heaved it into the air, the barrel of her gun, four inches deep in trench water, supporting not only it's weight but her's as well. Her hip leaned into the weapon, allowing her to almost lay onto it, any sharp edges being ignored. Each breath was a production, every long intake further drying out her overused and over shouted throat. But above all, what caught her attention most was the dying Grimm suspended a foot over head, spine severed and body limp, but face still animated. The muscles underneath it's boney mask contorted and twisted about, it's maw stretched open then snapped closed, and she for the first time noticed eyelids that blinked according to the situation. 

"What's wrong beastie?" she wheezed with genuine curiosity.

It was then that she figured out something, or had already known but forgotten, or something she was unconsciously aware of the whole time, and that was that they could feel pain. They may have been evil, but they too had emotion as primal as it might've been. Or were they evil, she asked herself. What if they were but pawns? A lowly warrior that just so happened to bear a dark color palette of red, black, and white. A description that Ruby was fully aware described herself. Maybe her color choice was on some level on purpose, she thought. She grinned. At one time in the past, did deer hunters not wear deer skins as disguise? Was she not a hunter of Grimm? She twisted her weapon, the tip of the spear digging just a little more into the Beowolf, causing it to squirm more so in pain.  
Another thought occurred. Did she enjoy delivering pain to this creature, similar to how these creatures sought after the misery of humans? If she had to describe it to someone else, the answer would be 'yes', she relished it. She did not feel sympathy, nor guilt for exacting vengeance on them, and preferred that her red colored emotions not fall on deaf ears metaphorically. She wanted the beast to understand on some level why she was doing what she was doing, to understand that it's biggest mistake was either choosing to follow it's assumed nature or to exist as a being with no choice but to follow a nature conflicting against Ruby herself. 

A cry brought Ruby back to reality, "what are you doing!?" shouted Blake.

"I guess break time's over" she spat quickly under her breath. The scythe user bent her knees to lower herself and thrust back up, piercing the creature completely. Lurching the end of the shaft to her side, she threw off the corpse into the dirt and counted the remaining opposition. The biggest Goliath plus another two were stomping around in it's attempts to crush Blake, failing of course, though her efforts were hampered by the raptor Grimm called Velocerclaws, named in the same vein of the Boarbatusks. They moved quickly and erratically, though always stayed within pouncing distance of each other and made it very difficult for Ruby and Blake to focus on them. Besides them, Ruby was being flanked by thirty or so smaller Grimm, seemingly intimidated by her display of brutality.  
Without warning, the circle closed in on the rose, forcing her to expend more of her precious energy to lethally lacerate the attackers. Pirouetting in her boots, what once looked like a teenage girl was suddenly a scarlet flurry accompanied by scattered rose pedals, a clockwise tornado of cutting metal that bisected five charging Grimm and dissuaded the rest. As the overall number of Grimm went down, the difficulty of juggling attacking and not dying went down more so with exponential effects, meaning that the two huntresses were on the last stretch before they won.  
Blake altered her trajectory to meet up with her team leader, scattering the Grimm around the latter as the stampeding Goliaths posed a threat to everyone and everything. A second tizzy of pedals fluttered in a now empty spot of air, and Ruby spun towards the leading mammoth monster, hooking the tip of her scythe end into it's left eye and letting it slip into it's skull. Her rotation reversed and pulled her around the left side face, allowing her reach to grab it's ear. Still alive with the wound not quite deep enough, the Goliath bucked widely, tossing it's passenger up into the air. Well versed in her air game, Ruby landed safely on it's neck.

"Blake!" she called out, unsure of her teammates location, "pendulum time!" It was a odd maneuver she came up with that she never really expected to come into use, but the current environment made her realize that she had simply not used her imagination enough.

The pistol blade part of Gambol shroud came from seemingly nowhere and planted itself near Ruby's feet, and moments later Blake followed. To her surprise, Blake too was panting and sweating, something that the faunus girl rarely showed thanks to her rugged endurance. "Me first or you first?" was the question.

"Me, let's go!" Perhaps a little hasty in her ambition, Ruby stumbled and almost fell when she started forth after grabbing Blake's pistol, but caught herself nonetheless. The older of the two planted her feet against the tall spines just before the neck of the Goliath just in time for Ruby to jump to the ground down below to take up all the slack Blake had. With just the right tension in her left hand where she held the pistol, Ruby ran for a moment along the ground before speeding off again in a flash, traveling in an upward arc around the front of the still running Grimm. At the apex of her arc, Ruby's toes tingled horribly, a sensation best described by the feeling of riding a greatly slanted swing set with a thirty foot long chain, and looking down to see the floor a ways away, and the knowledge that it will be the floor you will crash straight into if the initial speed wasn't enough to carry through the swing. Ruby gave a short gasp, then a sigh of relief when she carried through and at a more horizontal trajectory, just as she had wanted.  
On Blake's end, she used the tip of the tallest spine to use as a pole and wrapped her ribbon around once to allow her to take the slack were Ruby to slow down. Her amber eyes followed the red cape flutter behind the little daredevil, who touched down on the ground opposite of where she started and launched again, garnering speed. Ruby was targeting the raptor Grimm, who were on the Goliaths left side, the same side as Ruby, so Ruby would get the chance to make one more full revolution to gain speed, but had to be wary of wrapping around the spine too much and loosing range. On her second pass, Ruby swept the floor with Crescent Rose as if it was a golf club, striking a raptor fatally, leaving four more. Not planning to be picked off from relative safety on the huntress's part, the remaining four leapt onto the legs of the elephant, biting and clawing their way up.  
"There goes my idea" panted Ruby. On her third pass, she let go of Gambol Shroud and soared over to a following Goliath. While she took to running her blade across it's back, Blake unwrapped her ribbon and dodged around the persistent Grimm attacks. Their claws did a number on the large beast, prompting it to shake violently once more. One Velocerclaw lunged for Blake, but with a duck and a moving platform, it's next stop was onto the ground where it broke it's back. Two more flanked her and made a staggered and out of sync attack, allowing Blake to cut down the first only to have the other latch onto her back. Blake let out a scream when it's claw dug into her thigh and it's jaw clenched her right arm, soaking her white shirt in red. The last one jumped to assist, but seeing an opportunity, the faunus turned and fell to her knee, the mid air Grimm slamming into it's last partner. The one who jumped fell off the side, breaking it's legs, while the one who drew the huntress's blood let go and scrambled to get up. Not fast enough, she slammed down her cleaver sheathe and curved blade upon it's head, splitting it's white and red face. A turn of her head let her see the Goliath Ruby ran upon fall to the ground dead, the earth shuddering from it's mass. All that remained that mattered was the unharmed large Goliath, and the one Blake was riding.  
Crawling towards the rear of the elephant, using her sword to anchor herself along the way, she set herself where the spikes that protruded from it's back thinned out, giving her a decently sized patch of space to let her dig. It was time to make her cleaver live up to it's name. She crossed her hacks, going left to right, then right to left, slabs of black flesh and red muscle falling off like clumps of trash. When white showed through, she switched to her curved blade, stood to her feet, and slashed downward, a purple wave of cutting aura severing the bone and crippling the beast. It reminded her that she still needed to teach her cutting aura technique to the others. It was a rare skill that Adam had taught her.  
On Ruby's end, even less finesse was employed as she used her scythe as a breaker bar to dig into the back of the giant Goliaths skull. The Grimm was massive enough that conventional methods of attack would not be enough to kill it, it's skin too thick, it's muscle too tough, and it's bones to wide to reach any vital areas inside. So Ruby went for it's equivalent of a brain stem, drilling into the little slit of space where there was no bone to halt her advances. Before she knew it, Crescent Rose was buried four feet deep and the creature collapsed.  
The sound of nothing echoed in the forest, the thin rain that started falling like snow that disappeared when it touch the ground was silent, and even then the air was still. The two huntresses in training limped sedately to each other, glad that the lesser Grimm had ran off, not concerned by the minimal damage they might cause to someone somewhere someday.

The faunus had to look down to her leader, and let her expression say all she thought it needed to. The returning look she received made her believe for a moment that Ruby felt the same. For a moment.

"I'm hungry" croaked Ruby. "What's our time?"

Blake pulled out her scroll, checked the time, and said "eleven o'clock." It was then she took a look at her notifications. "Weiss and Yang say they're on their way- did you hear that?" Her bow twitched in reaction, and her eyes identified the direction of the noise.

Back in the area where all the dead students were, the Grimm bodies had disappeared completely and uncluttered the sight. Ten bodies were found, meaning three teams had been wiped out, one person possibly surviving. One of the bodies they found however wasn't quite dead. A boy, third year, black hair, or at least looked like it with all the blood staining it, medium build and a soft slightly pudgy face. Blake almost vomited on a closer look at him, his waist and legs sitting two feet from his belly, grey intestines spilled out and segmented from where they were cut, skin and bone torn and splintered respectively, muscles still pulsing pointlessly, and a path from the stomach to the ground where the acid had burned the organs could be made out. On his back, he let out another pained moan before he coughed up blood, a slim wheeze and movement in his chest showing that he could still barely breathe. He was still conscious, as dead as he was. Blake couldn't look at him, though she did look at Ruby.  
The latter seemed unfazed, and in fact gave a small comforting smile. Crescent Rose fell to the ground, and she carefully got down to her knees by the boys face, leaning over so he could look to the side and see her as he was unable to move at all.

"Would you like me to tell your parents that you love them?" she whispered, the smile still present.

"Ruby!" the other cried. Ruby ignored her.

The boy wheezed some more, quiet otherwise. "Blink once for yes, blink twice for no" Ruby offered. He slowly blinked once, before going back to an erratic pattern. "I'll tell them then, and any siblings too. Any one else you want to say goodbye to?" One blink and more labored breathing. "Family?" Two blinks. "Friends?" One Blink. "Do they go to Beacon?" One Blink. "Third year?" One Blink. "Do you like like them?" She could almost make out a smile on the corner of his mouth, then one blinks. "A girl?" Two blinks. "Oh, you into boys?" she laughed modestly.

Blake did not believe her eyes, but had to keep watching. Though she never really experienced it much, she recognized the mood, how one interacted with the other, and it soothed her being to see it. Ruby was mothering the dying boy in his last moments before he passed, stroking his hair and speaking softly with caring eyes, or eye more accurately. Ruby somehow made the tragedy feel more like a natural passing.

"Lets see, lets see, does he have a normal hair color?" One blink. "Blonde?" Two blinks. "Brown? Black?" Two blinks. "Red?" One blink. "Oh, is it... what was his name, Eric?" One blink. "Does he know how you feel?" Two blinks. "Oh you dog" she laughed again, "I'll let him know what he meant to you, okay?" One blink, then he closed his eyes. He convulsed some, but was still hanging on. 

Ruby reached over to grab the sub machine gun that had fallen inches from his hand, and made sure it was loaded. Turning the knob on the side to semi automatic, her free hand gently spread across his eyes to hide the world from him. She leaned further downwards and left a dry kiss on his bloodied forehead, not letting the strong metallic taste distract her. As the end of the boy's gun sat with a gap between it and his temple, Blake spoke up.

"Wait-" her friend looked up at her, eye asking why she should stop. Blake realized she shouldn't. The boy remained in pain, and would continue to do so as long as his body wrecked itself to pump air. Even if he was instantly teleported into an emergency room right now, there's no way they could actually save him. The moment he fell asleep his body would give up, he lost too much blood, suffered too much shock, and lost too many organs. Reasoning it out as such was the only way Blake could justify to herself that he should give up now, and with a murmur, told Ruby to "go ahead."

Red matter splattered her hand, and the pained breathing and convulsing ended. Blake kneeled beside Ruby, both tired and quiet. It was then that Ruby noticed the fur lining on her hoody, still soaked and making her colder rather than warmer, also irritated her neck horribly. Her hand reached up and tore the lining off, leaving the hoody itself mostly intact with slightly frayed edges. Half an hour passed when a Atlesian VTOL landed twenty feet from the two still kneeling by the boy. Weiss, Yang, and five soldiers disembarked and approached them. The soldier's raised their guns. "Ruby Rose! You are under arrest!"

"What!?" was the question her teammates shouted out.

Ruby looked down to the bloodied gun in her hand then to the boy whose brain's she blew out. "I guess this doesn't look good..."

Before anyone else could argue, the lead soldier spoke again, saying "All conspirators allied with the Headmaster Ozpin are to be investigated and detained! Stand up and put your hands behind your head!"

The other three stepped back, hands ready at the weapons. Weiss and Yang had not known the reason the soldier's came along was to arrest Ruby and not assist otherwise. The one in question however, remained calm. Standing up and turning around, Ruby did not raise her hands but stepped forward after dropping the small tan gun. She looked amused, bored even. She asked simply, "are there still Grimm in motion?" Their nervous looks between one and another told her 'yes'. "Then if there are still Grimm posing a threat, our job isn't done. Weiss," the heiress flinched, "did you bring me ammo?"

"I uh, actually, Yang was going to get you a bandolier for St. David's Day, so we put as much ammo on it as we could, so... yes, we brought you ammo." Weiss held up two thick black straps with three of the large clips on each, it's design seeming to imply a low waist placement. 

"Thank you, this'll be good for long hunting runs, of which I am going to do now" she raised her voice on the last part, looking right at the soldiers as she walked towards her partner. A awkward silence ensued where in everyone watched Ruby like hawks while she fastened her bandolier in the least cumbersome way possible. It was a design Yang thought very hard about apparently, Ruby discovered, as it took into consideration the girl's wardrobe, style in clothing and combat, and figure. A base belt went directly underneath her main belt, and secondary straps swooped like banners on each thigh from two front points on either side of the buckle and rear points crossing each other just below her lower back, sitting on her poofy skirt and allowed her the freedom to kick her legs up or sit down without getting in the way. At the lowest point of each strap was another strap that she could put around her leg to keep the heavy clips from bouncing, but she decided against it. 

"We can't let you leave!" the same soldier shouted again. His voice had cracked and his authority became less threatening.

"Go ahead, shoot me, if you can..." Turning her back on them, she limped to the VTOL where she reached in and grabbed two battle rifles, slinging one over her shoulder just above her mounted Crescent Rose and arming the other. Without another word, she left for the south, shoulder's confident and equipment clattering.

Weiss and Yang turned to follow, but the soldier's guns repositioned to them, and the sound of their fingers clenching the triggers made it apparent they were more willing to open fire on them but not Ruby. They hated themselves for returning to Beacon, but they just weren't prepared to fight supposed allies yet. The decision was easier for Blake however, as her lightheadedness reminded her of her wounds.

For hours Ruby limped by herself, putting minimal effort into combat while she deliriously hummed incoherent tunes. Any Grimm she saw were small enough where a couple well placed shots placated them, and when she ran out of ammo for the first rifle, she threw it to the ground and used the other one. When that clip ran out, she switched back to Crescent Rose's gun form. Her scroll had been turned off long before she started wandering, not wanting to be tracked down by the military. Try as she might have, she on her own couldn't figure out what the soldiers meant by her order of arrest by association with Ozpin. It didn't make sense for Ozpin to be in trouble, he was a powerful man who put the state of humanity before anything else... sort of. Ruby thought up a list of things that bothered her about him, but couldn't believe that that was enough for him to be incarcerated. What had provoked it was another concern too. A White Fang attack alone couldn't get him in trouble unless he was framed for it. She mulled over her thoughts endlessly, too distracted to notice deep entangling mud that stole her left boot. Half barefoot she traveled for some time, and at the early dusk, she could see a collection of smoke stacks in the sky to the east.  
Any indication that things couldn't get worse had lied to the beaten fighter, as her exploration let her discover a freshly burnt down village, charred and tattered corps strewn about without order. On either side of the cobblestoned main street that made up the entire town, square plots of use to be houses sat instead framework of toothpick thin beams of charcoaled wood peaking out of white ash and still red embers. In the pile closest to her, a blackened skull floated on it's side just feet from where the street started. She didn't have the constitution to look any harder, and had trouble just breathing. A place that smelled of death and ash was not a place to be, and the moment she made out a flattened trail of grass and paw printed mud that had to be where the Grimm went, she traced it, running from the horrid venue. She wiped away the tears welling in her eye, her hand returning red with blood mixed with sweat and dirt, the least of her worries. Forgetting her physical pain, she jogged along the path for a quarter of an hour, her few remaining clips bouncing heavily against her skirt, eventually catching glimpse of bullpups and hearing screams in the distance as the sun set behind the insurmountable cloud filled sky. Light from fire reflected off the low mists.  
In some ways, it was worse to see the carnage in action than it was to see the results. A hamlet of thirty some buildings built in an older style of wood and assorted stone burned in tall flames for no logical reason, Grimm scattered up and down the singular muddy street where a dozen unfortunate people were killed in the initial attack, Bullpups flew over head while shooting down at the creatures with no real place to land, and cries and screams of men, women, and children overwhelmed the single huntress. Doing all she could, Ruby devoted a bullet to every Grimm within accurate range of her, each one either falling down dead or getting crippled enough to back off, clearing a way onto one end of the main street. Some villagers took the opportunity to flee from their burning homes and attacking Beowolfs, but it didn't stop all of the screams much to Ruby's distress. She kicked open the doors to houses closest to her and not yet vacated, evacuating a family from the first one she opened, found no one in the second, and opened the door to a third to find the blood of a couple sprayed against the wall and an occupied black beast. Ruby couldn't breathe again, and for the first time, turned her back on a Grimm of her own volition. She stumbled to the closed door house across the street and called inside for the people to get out.  
Unfortunately for Ruby, she opened the door to the most vile of circumstances. Inside was the origin point of the baby's cry Ruby had been hearing, a blue knitted crib containing the baby sitting in a small living room with a green carpet and a brick fireplace beside a wooden stairwell from which a stream of blood slid down. The walls adjacent to the fireplace were similarly splattered with blood like the last house, but bits of shredded flesh stuck too. Flames engulfing the house lit up the inside through the cross hatched windows, and red mist in the air caught the light and glowed even more so. But it was still dark. On the opposite side of the crib from Ruby was a black mass spilling out in all directions. Intangible. Ruby could not discern it's shape, any limbs, any recognizable form, just that there was a black mass reaching the ceiling... and it was smiling at her. Perfect, white, teeth. The only rigid piece in a seemingly fluid form.  
Ruby looked to the crib, baby now screeching for dear life. She looked in horror as the pitch black thing wrapped around the crib like a fibered cloud, and to the sound of a crushed apple accompanied by a flurry of red mist, the cries stopped. A perfect pearlescent smile appeared a second later inches from her face. The rose wilted in place, her weapon rising up, but not to shoot the monster, but underneath Ruby's own chin. At last she thought, she finally had seen enough. The monster just smiled wider, a glowing smile impossible for any human to pull off. Alone, starving, barely conscious, beaten and bruised, missing a shoe, and without hope, the light of Ruby's eye dimmed.  
She was saved however from herself and the monster, though not by any friends, but the Beowolf she ignored, who bit her from behind into her shoulder, her meager aura barely keeping it's teeth at bay. It yanked her from the doorway and thrashed her around, soon after tossing her limp body that had long dropped it's weapon into the middle of the street where she passed out. Unaware of what happened in her down time, she awoke to metal cuffs trapping her wrists admit a still blazing village.

-End Chapter 26-


	27. Shifting Paradigms

Blake felt her scroll buzz in her pocket. With the sound of the bullpup's jets roaring, neither Weiss or Yang, nor the four soldiers could hear it. Not that it mattered too much, as while they were meant to arrest Ruby and would've held her at gun point, they simply were forcefully suggesting that the other three return with them to the Vale military center in the south east of Vale. The black haired girl pulled her device out and opened her messages app. It was from Velvet. She gasped. Velvet said in her text that Vale was actively arresting all Faunus, and that the students of Beacon were being screened at the military base. She said Blake needed to leave the Kingdom immediately, as she was doing. A sweat broke out on her forehead. Weiss and Yang already knew, but couldn't say anything in front of the soldiers.  
The ship flew on, and as the sweat collected on Blake's skin, wary glances from the soldiers quickly built up tension. Blake, Weiss, and Yang pretended that nothing was wrong, each looking off in their own direction, but the soldiers just stared harder. Vale could be seen getting closer in the distance. Yang cleared her throat. Blake's scroll buzzed again. This time Sun messaged her telling her the same thing, and that he was already heading west. The strictest looking of the soldiers squinted at the dark girl, far past the point of suspicion. 

"What are you hiding?" he growled in his still young voice.

She flinched. "What?" Her rapid blinking didn't help.

"You three are avoiding all eye contact, you're sweating, you're jumpy-"

"You fucking pulled your guns on us earlier you asshole, and if you didn't notice, Vale's practically burning! Of course we're nervous you prick!" Yang yelled, her free hand dancing in rage. He backed off.

Blake's hands started shaking when she looked again to see Vale even closer. She needed to run, but how, when? Where to? Both Velvet and Sun's word was enough to convince her that the kingdom was dangerous for faunus, and if Velvet, a goody two shoes in all regards, made like a fugitive and left, then it had to be bad. But what about her team? She couldn't leave them. Not with a clear conscience. How would Yang feel?  
A look to her side at her partner surprised her. While the soldiers weren't looking, Yang mouthed words with the hint of a whisper behind them, barely audible. Blake had to run the movements through her own mouth a couple times to figure out her words. 'Planet estate?' she first thought, then got 'planet escape', finally realizing she was saying 'plan a escape.' Her head craned to look at Weiss, who gave a subtle nod of agreement. A long sigh followed a final look at Vale.

"Weiss, you're the best Schnee I know" Blake calmly spoke, holding out her hand to Weiss.

The heiress shook it with a confused smile. "I'm the only Schnee you know. If that was supposed to be a compliment, that was weak." They exchanged a grin. The four men slowly reached for their guns.

"And Yang..." Blake started, stopping as something caught in her throat. 

"Yeah Blake?" 

The darker girl latched onto Yang, embracing her full heartedly. "Thank you Yang, for everything." Yang felt a tear smear along her neck. 

"What are you do-" before the lead soldier could finish, Blake pivoted in place and dashed out the bullpup, hair blowing behind her. "Shit!" 

"Blake!" both girls screamed, leaning halfway out of the side.

Fairly high up and falling fast, Blake had the sudden realization that she did not plan this out at all. Her sadness as hastily replaced with terror, and any remnants of tears blew off of her face. In a normal situation, a fall from her height would've been fine, albeit a little painful, but as she was, she had no bullets, a fraction of her aura, and no focus. Her arms and legs spread out to slow her fall as much as she could, but considerable effort had to go to not screaming as the tree tops speed towards her.   
Making a gamble she had little choice in, Blake stuck out her legs and hoped to hit thin branches on the way down. Fortunately, she barely missed a thick heavy branch that would've stopped her in her tracks, unfortunately, she only hit one springy stick that offset her feet before breaking almost instantly. She hit ground right leg first and crumpled with a sickening crack. This time, she screamed.  
The adrenaline pumped through her, letting her get some of her bearing before debilitating pain kicked in. Using her arms, she rolled herself onto her back from her front, and caught glimpse of a Beowolf charging at her. It jumped for her, but a quick draw let her stab it throat first as it fell onto her. So she laid there, two hundred pounds of dead Grimm mounted on her, leg almost certainly guaranteed to be shattered, and a collapsing world. A long, frustrated moan of pain sounded out. Before her breath slowed, she texted Sun of her relative location, promptly passing out a moment later.

"Sir, aren't we going to go after her?" asked the dumpy looking soldier. 

Weiss and Yang too awaited his answer. "No, we didn't get any order's specific to her, and we're low on fuel as it is, we carry on." He looked pissed. The two girls, glad Blake would not be chased, still felt a pit grow in their stomachs. As far as they knew, they would never see their good friend again.

It was the next day when Mercury turned to Cinder and said "hey, look at me! I'm a regular loser! Derpa derpa derp." He had grown out a short beard and dyed all of his hair brown, donned sunglasses, a paper boy cap, and civilian young man clothing. Cinder shook her head in mild embarrassment. 

"Don't ever do that again." Her disguise was equally transformative, with bleach blonde hair, square framed fake prescription glasses, and a gray pantsuit. The two of them put together clashed horribly. "Come on, we're leaving."

The northern side of the river for the industrial district was almost completely abandoned between the riots in the middle of Vale and the evacuation from flooding, and walking out from the warehouse they were hiding in they saw no one. Water a foot high soaked into their footwear, but paid it no mind. "So explain this to me," began Mercury, "why are the three of us going to Mistral, and the others are heading back?" They headed for the docks.

"Sure, just talk a little louder so someone can hear you" snarked the woman.

Mercury rolled his eyes. "There's no one here, come on."

"Still a foolish thing to do. The psychos that were with us don't know the difference between subtlety and bloodshed, and we need to establish operations and a information network out east. Some agents that are there think they have a good starting spot."

"Okay," he sighed, "I guess I asked the wrong question. What I meant is, why are we taking a third party fishing boat instead of flying there? Last time I checked, we weren't fishermen, believe it or not! I don't know the difference between a trout and a... fish... thing. Tuna." Those were the only two kinds of fish he could think of, which bothered him to a small degree. 

Her hand lifted to the sky, finger out. "After our little stunt, their going to be keeping a very keen eye on the skies. A boat is our ticket out. And I don't think you'll find trout in the ocean."

"Fine by me."

The water got colder as they got close to the docks, where Emerald waited for them. Strangely, the water lowered to about nine inches high. "Did you get us passage?" asked Cinder to the dark skinned girl, casting a glance at the aptly colored navy blue fishing boat. The name The Sea Braver was visible on either side of it.

Like them, Emerald was in disguise, but did a slightly better job of it. Her hair was dyed black and pulled back in a braid, wore a oversized khaki brown male's jacket with red plaid underneath, and gray cargo pants with black rubber boots. She looked like she was ready to sail on a boat unlike the other two. "Yes Cinder, they'll take us all the way to the docks of Mistral. I told them we were friends who wanted refuge from the White Fang."

"Good" is all the lady had to say, walking on by the proud little thief, ignoring her expectant gaze.

"Hmph," went Mercury, "how'd you convince them? I can't think of any single illusion that would trick someone like a captain. Unless he was an idiot I guess."

"Money."

"You made him think we had money?"

"No, I paid him in money." She too left to board the boat, leaving Mercury grumbling to himself.

Still being in the middle of winter, even a wet one, the sun set early on the city. Hundreds of students from Beacon mulled around inside an otherwise empty aircraft hanger, plenty of room to spare even with all the live bodies.. Those who weren't outright arrested were kept there after screening so the military could keep an eye on them for the time being. Team JNPR and SSSN sans Sun and Pyrrha kept close to the hanger entrance, rather paranoid that the doors would suddenly close and poison gas might fill the structure or something equally evil. Much to their worry, they had not seen or heard about team RWBY along with some of their other friends like Coco. 

"Why are they holding us here?" they kept asking each other, only for saddened shrugs to follow.

"But it doesn't make sense!" growled Jaune, "the White Fang has attacked before, sure, maybe not to this degree, but why are we being detained!?"

"The military gets their orders straight from the council in times of emergency, so that must mean the council is expecting something" offered Ren, an anger heard in his voice uncommon to his person.

Outside, in a different building, Pyrrha sat in a small jail cell. After she and Glynda had been discovered by the soldiers, the professor told her to act confused and upset, which was by no means a stretch. Once taken into custody, Pyrrha felt a dizzy spell and fell unconscious. Once she woke up, she was in the cell. There she sat for hours with nothing to do but drive herself mad with all the emotions she felt. Her mind bounced from thinking about all the dead bodies, the haunting atrocity it was, and then her thoughts turned to Amber and the grave sin she took part in. After thinking about Amber and her lifeless body, her thoughts returned back to the massacre, and thusly she continued until two soldiers broke her from her self destructive cycle.   
Two helmed soldier's in gray and black garb opened up her cell, one as tall as Ozpin and the other Pyrrha's height. "Up," the tall one said. Following his command, Pyrrha walked slowly into both soldier's grips, letting them lead her out of the hallway, passed several door guards, and then outside. They crossed the designated roadway to a smaller, unimportant building where no one was stationed. Inside was a single short hallway with two doors on either wall, the second on the left being the one they entered. From what Pyrrha gathered, they had taken her into a closet where they kept the soldier's duds for regular wear. No armor, no rigging, just boots, pants, and shirts. Then the two soldiers removed their helmets.

"Hazel! Higgins!" Pyrrha exclaimed.

"Yep, it's us" the tall sharpshooter chirped. "Quick Ms. Nikos, get some of those clothes on, we need to get you out of here."

"What?" she asked.

"Lets just say Vale is not going to be a safe place for you real soon. Get those clothes on, then Higgins here will give you his armor and stuff."

She looked at the two of them, reading their faces. "I can't leave Vale, what about my team?" Jaune's face flashed in her mind. 

Hazel frowned, saying "they should be fine either way, but if you stay, I promise you will have a bad time of it." The lack of his usual glee frightened her, and made the situation seem all the more grave.

"But why, why me?" 

"You're from Mistral, thats why" Higgins stated solemnly.

"What does that have to do with anything?"

"The council is about ready to target anyone who's not native to Vale or Atlas. Come on Pyrrha, we're running out of time!" Hazel half shouted.

Another long moment went by of exchanged stares. "I trust you Hazel," she said, "but I want to say goodbye to my friends first-" her head spun for a moment. On the first think through, her statement made sense, and the image of them flashed through with no issue. Her mind however ran through the thought a second time, and it made no sense. She didn't recognize the friends she was referring to, and she didn't recognize the people in front of her. Was that Amber? Before she thought too hard about it, she was interrupted.

"Thats fine, but we need to get going quick" Hazel repeated. The champion snapped to, picking out some clothes.

She turned uncomfortably to look at them. "Uhm, could you look away?" asked Pyrrha in a tone too disheartening for the two men. They made efforts to cheer her up.

"Yeah sure, though you know, we already saw your tits" Hazel grinned. Pyrrha thought back to the last year, when it was Hazel's team that picked her up from the forest after Mercury left her for dead. Kringle had to remove her top to treat her wounds. They didn't hide the fact that they peaked, repeatedly, for long periods of time. "Yeah remember? Higgins here took a picture just to memorialize it."

"I did not," the young man said, turning around to give Pyrrha her privacy, "Patic took the picture, I just downloaded from him."

Higgins' chest armor fit tightly while his helmet sat loose upon her head, her hair bundled up underneath to keep it from rocking, while everything else fit just fine. With the helmet on, and as long as no one was looking too hard, Pyrrha actually looked like him in all dimensions. The two men found it to be the oddest thing. "You look thin enough, but you've got some child bearing hips there Higgins" Hazel laughed. 

"Shut up, I'd make a great mom. You should get going, now" he suggested as he neatly folded Pyrrha's red clothing and tucked it inside a box.

He stayed behind while the other two left for the hanger holding all the students. Two other members of Hazel's team, Kringle and Remarque both without helmets, intercepted them on the way there. "Where's Pyrrha?" was the first thing out of Kringle's mouth.

"This is Pyrrha" Hazel told them as they fell in stride behind them.

Remarque and Kringle looked her over once more. "Wow. She looks just like him, just a hair shorter. That's the weirdest thing" commented the older man.

"I know right? Anyways, we're going to the hanger, the girl wants to say goodbye to her friends."

"Fair enough" commented Remarque cooly.

The soldiers standing guard at the entrance didn't pay mind to the four of them, making entrance trivial. Jaune and the others noticed Pyrrha march right towards them, but with her in disguise took it as a threat. "Wot do you want?" demanded Scarlet.

"I want to say goodbye" Pyrrha said, her voice echoing slightly in her helmet. The eye line face visor was reflective one way, allowing the wearer to see the world just fine while others were left clueless to the facial features of said wearer, a precaution developed to counter spies trying to identify soldiers at a glance. Squad mates could figure out who was who easy enough by uniform condition, body features, weapon combination, and body posture, but no one else could.

They all did a double take. "Pyrrha?" first spoke Nora.

"Wait 'goodbye', what do you mean 'goodbye'?" went Jaune. He took a step closer to her. Without her tall heels, he had to look down at her, which made her feel disproportionately small.

"Don't make a scene" echoed Kringle's voice with caution. He cast a look to the entrance guards, who were very much paying attention.

"Let her, this might be her last time seeing them" argued the young man Remarque. When he wasn't talking, he was standing perfectly still.

The knight's face contorted into worry, then looked to Pyrrha for answers. "I have to go, Jaune," she said, "I can't explain, but I... wait" she turned to Hazel. "These three" she pointed to Neptune, Sage, and Scarlet, "are from Mistral, shouldn't they go with me?"

"I should be able to make arrangements for four people, but no more." Obviously he was met with bewildered looks. Checking his watch he laid out their options, "listen. Stay here and you'll be sitting in a jail cell at best, go with her, you might do some good. We need to hurry this up, do your thing."

"I'm going to Mistral Jaune," Pyrrha continued as she stepped closer, putting their faces inches apart. "I don't know how long it will be till I see you again, but I will find you. That's a promise." 

"I don't know what's going on, but don't forget about us Pyrrha" smiled Ren, "you promise to look for us too?" Nora gave her a thumbs up.

Pyrrha smiled and started tearing up behind her visor, saying "guys" with heartfelt warmth. She excitedly hugged Jaune.

"And we're attracting attention" grumbled Kringle. The entrance soldier's were intrigued.

"Hmm" went Remarque.

Jaune squeezed back hard. "I love you Pyrrha, and I'll miss you" he said without reserve. His teammates blushed a little. Pyrrha pulled away from him and lifted her helmet to expose her lips, kissing Jaune with desperate passion. Team SSSN blushed.

"And we're caught" sighed Kringle. The entrance soldier's looked to each other confused. Remarque sighed with him.

For an instant, Pyrrha felt violated by Jaune's lips regardless of the pleasure it was just bringing, prompting her to push him away. "I'm sorry" she quickly apologized, just as baffled as he was. 

"Alright, follow me" commanded Hazel, and Jaune watched with longing eyes as Pyrrha and the others turned and walked away. Already he was missing her.

As the seven of them walked on by the entrance guards, the two who had seen the whole thing laughed out to Hazel and Pyrrha, then asked "Higgins! I didn't know you were into guys! I swear you were all about the booty!"

"What, you didn't know" Hazel laughed back to them, "he doesn't do much pitching, but he loves receiving!"

"Please tell Higgins I'm sorry about that" Pyrrha said to the tall man once out of earshot of the other soldiers.

"Don't worry, he won't give a shit. Kringle, get rid of any documentation of these four, they were never here today."

The gray haired man nodded. "I need your last names" he said to the huntsmen boys.

Sage spoke for the three of them, "Sage Ayana, Scarlet David, and Neptune Vasilias."

"Gotcha." Kringle broke off from the group and headed off on his own.

"Where's Wash?" Hazel turned to Remarque.

"Air strip four, he's got the bullpup ready to take off." 

"Good, make sure our flight is authorized."

"Understood." He too left.

The bullpup was already running when Hazel got them to strip four where they took off from with haste. The ship flew off to the west, Vale's city lights guiding Wash just fine. On the northern side of the west side docks, they touched down in six inch deep water, a fishing boat by the name of The Sea Braver sitting just a minute's walk away. A heavily bearded man of white hair in a yellow raincoat waited for them.

"Hey Bobby!" Hazel shouted to the portly man. "Children, this is Captain Bobby, he's a good friend of mine. He'll get you safe passage to Mistral." They nodded affirmatively, albeit still anxious.

"Four? You told me only one was coming!" he shouted over the scream of the bullpup's jet engines.

"I'll pay you later for the other three!" Hazel yelled as he pushed out team SSSN.

"No need! I'm just surprised is all! Here, here's some clothes for the young lass!" He tossed a bundle wrapped in twine up to Hazel and Pyrrha.

"Just give us a minute! Here, Pyrrha, take off Higgins' stuff. He's going to need it." Catching the package, he drew a knife with expert speed and cut off the string, handing Pyrrha clothes to put on as she took off the old gear. "If anyone asked, your name is Jessica Jones, and you are fleeing the White Fang, but don't worry about Bobby, he already knows. Got it?"

"Yeah." She finished getting on her rust colored boots, blue waterproof poncho, and old gray sailor's cap with her hair tucked underneath when Hazel's hand shoved black grease onto her cheeks.

"Let's just say you're a mechanic. Alright, go!"

Pyrrha sat on the edge of the cabin ready to jump when she stopped herself. She turned her upper half to face Hazel and told him with the utmost sincerity, "thank you."

"No problem, just go!" he cried out as he shoved her out of the ship.

Picking herself up, she followed the captain onto the ship through receding water levels, walked a plank aboard the decently sized ship, and watched as the man ordered his crew around, calling out jargon she hardly followed, and wobbled in place when the ship rocked into motion. Vale's night lights started to grow smaller and dimmer as the ship pulled away and headed due north, and Pyrrha rested herself along the rear railings of the ship to see the kingdom off. Tears rolled off her cheek and fell into the foamy white water trailing behind the vessel loudly. She didn't realize until now, but Vale had become her home, the second home she had learned to love, the second home she had to leave behind. Worse still, she was leaving behind more people than ever before.

"If there was ever a time to be upset," called out a bleach blonde woman walking slowing towards Pyrrha, "I guess now would be it."

The young huntress wiped away her tears with a sniffle, her voice choppy. "I'm sorry, yes."

Cinder rested against the railing just beside Pyrrha in the same way. "It's alright, things like yesterday don't happen everyday. If you're upset about it, it only means you're human." She too watched Vale fade in the distance.

Pyrrha pinched the bridge of her nose and heavy set creases appeared on her brow, and she whispered "I don't know I don't know, none of it makes sense. I still can't believe anything that's happening. So many things, so fast, the more I think about it the worse it gets."

"I know what you mean. Are you heading for Mistral too?"

Pyrrha sighed, head in her hands. "Yes. I don't even know what I'm going to do when I'm there, just as long as it's not here I guess."

Cinder looked over to the redhead, a thought occurring to her. "My name is Brittany, what about you?" Even in disguise, her speech patterns still retained their sultry enunciations.

"Jessica."

"Hmm. Well Jessica, you should take a long nap. Rest lets the mind figure itself out."

Pyrrha stood up, taking deep breaths as she did. Mercury walked around the corner towards Cinder. "You're probably right, I think I'm going to call it in for tonight. Thank you Ms. Brittany." The redhead strolled passed Mercury.

"Anytime."

The man took a spot by Cinder. "Who was that?"

She shrugged. "I don't know, some foolish kid too scared to stick around Vale."

"On the contrary" he argued, "I would call that a smart move."

-End Chapter 27-


	28. The Songs We'd Sing

Ruby sat sideways on her poofy sable couch, one leg dangling off the side while the other across the seat cushion. She played the guitar on her hip left handed, which was fine as she didn't actually know how to play, and simply strummed the higher note half of the chords steadily for a peaceful yet lively ambience. In her lap sat her five year old daughter, with black hair, a red cloak and hood pooling around her whole body, and a silver eye adjacent to a black eyepatch. The linen curtains of the living room window were drawn back to let sun filter past the numerous trees onto the oakwood floor, through the empty glasses that shot rainbow reflections about the rough cut wood of the table, and struck against the pale skin of the little girl, her skin almost too bright to look at. The little Ruby sang softly, slowly, "da da daa dunn dun da, dun dun donna da daaaa~..." in a wispy voice while the older Ruby sang whatever popped into her mind.   
She knew it was a dream, or at least she might've suspected. She didn't care though, and wanted to enjoy it while it lasted. 

The older Ruby spoke in rhythm, and in a lower pitch than normal, "Summer time bloomin', what fantastic light~, I'd love to see you right now, I'd love to see you right now~" her voice trailing off rather nicely she thought.

Weiss, a bright white blotch in the sunlight, sat on the floor at the foot of the couch, her feet disappearing underneath the table. Her own expert voice carrying an downplayed 'o' in tune with the little Ruby. On the other side of the Ruby's Jaune perched himself on the couch frame backing, reaching down behind his back with one hand to help Ruby play. She continued, off the top of her head, "strawberry shortcakes, cool and dry breezes~, Crescent Rose bullets on sale now, I could save a whole right now~" Yang, who laid on a offset and perpendicular couch, apparently not asleep, gave a mellow laugh.

Other laughter outside drew her eye to the window, where her other friends danced around and laid about in tall lime green grass, smiles all around. Her friends outside sang her own words, though she couldn't hear or see them sing them. Dreams are dreams after all. And this was a nice dream.

"Everyone should be here, something something something~ oh, blah da buh da buh da doe, oh just think of the songs we'd sing~, oh I'd love to see you right now, I'd love to see you right now~"

The guitar didn't stop when daughter Ruby started singing, the noise coming from her mouth like it was being passed through a radio or phone line. "Happy St. David's day, and what a happy tune~, I'll see you again soon, hope to see you soon~"

That's when big Ruby stopped singing and playing, instead staring at her daughter confused. "What?" she asked, not a moment before she found herself sitting alone in a chair in the middle of a dead woods area. The brass wires of the guitar grew like branches and roots from it's hold, wrapping itself around different portions of the huntress. They slackened briefly in their local areas so that a sentient tip of wire had a clear shot to burrow straight through her body like sewing needles. One went through her right shoulder, another in her belly, one in her bootless foot, and one more on the left side of her rib cage. She grinned against the pain, her body tensing up. And like sewing needles, the wires wrapped around her portions and threaded through each spot repeatedly until she was practically dressed in weaved brass. Only getting worse, the wires tightened up as if the guitar was being tuned up. This time she let out screams of pain and flung herself from the chair onto the cold ground, her body contorted to the puppeteer strings. She looked skyward for no reason other than to distract herself from the pain, but was no longer in a grey forest. Total blackness engulfed her, and a perfect, inhuman smile beamed at her. The monster's invisible hands grabbed onto the ends of the wires and pulled outwards, the entwined patterns tearing Ruby's body apart.

Violently jerking herself awake in a cold sweat, Ruby continued to thrash around, confused by the unfamiliar hands holding her arms tightly and the sharp cuffs around her wrist behind her back. The spots of inflicted pain in her dream echoed onto her real body, notably her shoulder and ribs almost incapacitating her from hurt. The two men holding her tightened their grips and pressed into Ruby in an attempt to mitigate her room to spasm. Somewhere, a report on the incident between Ruby and Roman noted that with the exception of when first aid was applied, Ruby had not screamed or call out in agony; right now, the same girl shrieked and sobbed uncontrollably, unable to see through her tears. A man not responsible for holding the hysterical teen crossed his knuckles with her cheek, silencing her. "St. Evelyn-what-the-fuck!? Chill the fuck out!" said the man.

Her head hung low, longish black wet bangs from a year with no hair cuts covered her face. Sanity came back to her along with a more organized take on her current conditions. She was being transported in a bullhead towards nighttime Vale it seemed, four helm-less men plus a pilot accompanying her. Cold air rushed in, nothing new, causing her to shiver in her soaked and muddy clothing, now noticeably torn too. Her boot was still missing, and the cloth over her right shoulder was just barely holding on, bruised and bloodied skin showing very clearly. Deathly hunger clenched at her belly, and right behind it was aching bones. In fact, her whole body ached, especially her shoulder. She leaned into the young man on her left, feebly trying to get pressure off of her shoulder. It did not go unnoticed by either party that her modest bust was pressing into his chest, and Ruby could see him blush brightly regardless of the dim cabin lights. She didn't care.

"Getting friendly now?" question skeptically the other man holding her, a bit more advanced in years than his partner.

With shaky breath, she rasped "my shoulder... it hurts..."

"Yeah," said the man who punched her, "I had a look at it, besides the bite marks your shoulder blade might be fractured or something."

Pain was something Ruby was more or less accustomed to, but the thought of broken bones and torn muscle (on her own body specifically) had a way of making her sick. "Oh" she whispered, her eye dilating and chest heaving for air, "shit." On the word her legs gave out and she fell to her knees, and a moment later, stomach acid and blood fell from her mouth. There was nothing in the acid, as she had not eaten for a whole day and a third. The younger of the men reached down and helped her back up gently. He was a nice enough boy, and very obviously found the young huntress attractive, forgetting all the blood, mud, and tears.

As the bullhead flew over the city, circling around the central prison, the passengers cringed at the sound of sirens and rioter's war cries. She had asked how the condition of Vale was, but was ignored. Her judgment told her that they were as uncomfortable with confirming to themselves something was wrong as they were uncomfortable with holding her prisoner. The ship touched down on one of four landing pads on the roof level of the prison where four guards in dark blue regalia representing Vale's Council awaited Ruby. She traded hands from one captor to the other, and immediately was put into a metal straight jacket of weaved bands of steel weighing in around sixty pounds all told, and it caused her aching body to scream out some more. Ruby recognized the jacket as what they put on Huntsmen and Huntresses they find too dangerous to leave free handed and alone when in containment.   
The guards, whom were trusted hunters of great age with wrinkles and stone face expressions to show, surrounded Ruby as they lead her inside the prison, down a large grated elevator, and into a regular looking jail cell that let the blue and gray light of the city feebly sift through a single foot square window. Ruby tripped over her own feet all the way down. The barred door rattled open, and the bounded girl was shoved inside. Without so much a word in any manner, the four guards left once the cage was locked.

"Thanks for the hospitality" she mumbled faintly, defeated. Memories of her first time in jail kept rerunning in her head, a small glimmer of hope presenting itself in how she was acquitted last time. Problem was, she thought, she knew why she was in trouble in the first time, what she was even being accused of. Did the massacre have anything to do with her? What about the monster? Last time she didn't even get to attend her trial, so what about this time? The jacket she wore was a bad omen of things to come, as it was a serious item to resort to in legal settings. Exhausted, she fell with a too hard thud on her tiny bed rack, regretting the decision instantly. Ruby shook her head to clear the bangs from her face and stared at the toilet stationed at the foot of the bed, curious to how they expected her to use it with her hands glued to her body. Silver lining, she was dehydrated and starving, so no need to use the toilet. She tried to grin, but her mouth muscles refused to. The fluorescent lights to the cell block, noticeably empty she noticed, flickered off with a clank, and all that remained was a dim blue light that fused with the shadows.   
For the rest of the night she tried to fall asleep, her body perfectly willing regardless of the countless discomforts but her mind not. Anytime she felt her consciousness slipping, the hint of a smile appeared in the pitch black recesses of her mind, and a cold sweat broke out and her arms writhed within their binding of their own accord. Ruby took several breaks from trying to sleep and cried for some time, her nose running with snot she couldn't wipe off unless she ran her face over her stained bed sheets. She wanted her father, her mother, her sister, her uncle, her friends, she wanted company, or rather just someone to tell her what was going on, maybe that she'd be alright, or maybe just a hug, whatever. But right now, she was alone, and that nothingness and vulnerability weighed on her as much as all the other bleak factors. It made her remember her dream, at least the part before it went bad. A sunny respite in the middle of a distressing situation. But thoughts returned to the monster, an entity which made all other existences seem irrelevant. Just what was it that Ruby saw for those brief five seconds that lasted far too long? She couldn't begin to piece together her knowledge to even guess what it was, a fact that terrified her beyond reason. It was not human or faunus. It was not an animal. It didn't resemble any assortment of creature, had no shape, had no red eyes, no fur, no scales, no white mask... it couldn't have been a Grimm. Ruby choked a little, forgetting to breathe. It smiled. That damn smile. She already figured Grimm could feel primal emotions, and had some animal intellect, but this... monster, it smiled when it vaporized that child. Her heartbeat pounded in her ears.

In the same night, far up north, a council in Atlas was being held.

Underneath the tallest tower of the concrete jungle, inside a secret chamber room that few knew existed, two dozen bodies discussed the course of action for the future. Twelve rostrums lit by spot lights spaced evenly around a large circular room of grey marble overlooked a central podium, at it was a black suited woman with no mercy to be found in the lines of her face. On one of the rostrums stood Ironwood along with his most trusted professor, Combat Instructor Cowlin. Like his, on each platform stood two people each, one of import and the other a trusted witness of sorts, twenty five people in all. Though Atlas had a democratically voted council of peers, this secret group was what made the real decisions, as much as it irked more noble people such as Ironwood.   
He glanced to his left. Going clockwise around the undecorated room starting with him, it then went to two chief engineers in charge of the Penny project, Mr. Polendina absent due to his sudden disappearance. After them was the city superintendent and his secretary, then each of the seven council people each with their own assistant, then another top ranking general and his lieutenant, and finally Mr. Schnee accompanied by his daughter Winter. He was a man of youthful features even in his mid fifties, looking almost as young as his daughter. But beneath his looks laid an uncaring, and some say genius man, thought Ironwood. His mines up north were ran on faunus manpower, their night vision helping greatly in the dim lighting of the deep caves. Paid poorly and put in poorer conditions, it was one of the driving forces of the White Fang's complaints, but some how like his fathers before him, he managed to keep the faunus working, and somehow kept the far off mines protected from wild Grimm. At times, his word was law.

The speaker of the council, the lady in the middle, jutted out her gavel to the council people. She shouted concisely and tersely, "knowing all the current facts available to us, a response has been demanded by all kingdoms. What say you?"

Anyone who wanted to be heard had to shout, given the size of the room, and shout they did. "Obviously we declare war on the faunus too, and assist our Vale Councilmen's decision" said one man across the ways from Ironwood. 

"Agreed" said a woman, "but a distinction should be made; is it the White Fang we chase, or do we persecute all non-governmental affiliated faunus?"

"What's to say we don't have agents in the ranks, hmm?" spoke another.

The first man continued, "after all, Ozpin himself being arrested by our sister group should provide us signs of warning of treason."

Ironwood argued "Ozpin is no traitor, and his trial shall see to it that he is proven with the best intentions towards the state of the kingdoms."

"Ozpin-" the second woman spoke, "has been a thorn in Vale's council side for decades. His incarceration is neither here nor there to the current predicament, as we all know his verdict will depend solely on the graces of the council overseas. Our main concern should be our efforts to stamp out the anarchy sown by the faunus."

This time the superintendent raised his rather bored voice. He was a tall, lanky man in a charcoal pinstripe suit with thin glasses and silver hair, all stress induced and age ridden. "I believe I should point out some finer details. Legal pursuit of non humans will birth consequences dependent on the severity of our scope. Luckily, Atlas's population, not counting the workers of the Schnee corporations, is over ninety seven percent pure human. If we attack the White Fang exclusively with self evidential association protocols, we won't invoke the wrath of anyone bottom line, but as much as I hate to say it, we personally wouldn't suffer much in repercussions on domestic grounds were we to take a more radical approach. Most of the population is anti-faunus bias as is."

"Vacuo won't like it" thought the other general out loud.

"Their military has suffered lately, and are likely to shy from entering any conflicts" said a new councilman.

The council continued on, throwing out bits of information and opinion, with little disagreements on approach here and there, but mostly on the same page, the page belonging to the rulebook of engagements of war. Cowlin, a balding man of average height, thick build, and haggard face hugged by a thick black beard whispered to his employer, similar to all the other aids in the room who whispered between themselves and their boss. "I wasn't aware Vacuo was under armed."

"If the reports are to be believed, they are. However, misinformation is a well known tactic that must be taken into consideration" Ironwood spoke back to him.

"You know I know that much, I just haven't seen Vacuo or the reports in a good while. Anyways, it's looks like we're going to war..."

The general sighed. "That much is certain. The question is rather on how we go about it, and if there are any consequences we're not seeing."

"It's rash is what it is. Rather than starting the next faunus war, we should be hunting down the perpetrators of the massacre. This is how a lot a people will die."

"No doubt" Ironwood agreed, "but as much as the logical thing to do would be to investigate the problem carefully, we need to take action. If we don't say big words and make movements, the enemy sees it as inaction, our people too. Civil unrest is obviously a serious concern, and when the people can't see us taking action, all they hear from us in their heads is 'yeah, we think there's like bad things over there maybe, but we haven't really taken any precautions against that really important thing that happened where a lot of people died that we really haven't seemed to acknowledge.' Nothing scares a citizen more than the indecision and lack of conviction of their leader. Not only that, but the other kingdoms will judge us harshly based off our presentation. Everyone here knows those facts well."

"Damned if we do, damned if we don't. This whole council is pointless anyways though, you know the final decision comes down to whatever Schnee says in the end." Cowlin eyed the stoic white clad man a little ways from him. Winter shot him a questionable look back at him.

"It's pains me to say it, but if I know anything about that man, then we are painting the snow red with the blood of his enemies."

Ruby had been lying frustrated and still starving when the four old guards came to escort her around 4 o'clock. She experienced a new fear, now knowing that she was attending her trial this time, now not knowing what to expect from that. They transported her by car to the upper town city hall, one of the biggest buildings in Vale with as much majesty to it as Beacon had, where the council held it's court rulings and public hearings. On the way there, the young girl got a good look at the people bustling in the streets heading to the courts to protest and wave signs around. The sky was still cloudy, a faint shower wetting the air. No one cared.   
The guards lifted her up the many white stairs and pass the grooved columns inside, decorated earth tone marble floors reflecting back the golden lights of chandeliers several stories above them like mirrors. Through some too hot hallways they waded through reporters and upset people shoving at the prisoners as they took them past the actual court, isolating them in separate holding cells of plain white plaster walls for pending defendants. They made sure potential partners in crime kept from getting a straight story before trial. The room was cramped with the five of them leaning against the walls, and Ruby sweated profusely by one part terrified anxiety, second part lack of air-conditioning, and third part suffocating metal jacket that was pressing on all of her hurt parts. As cheap as the room was however, in the solid metal door was a small slit of reinforced glass that let them see into the corridor. Ruby caught a glance of Coco pass by with her own vanguard of four noticeably less intense security personnel towards the big black doors of judgment. The younger huntress didn't recognize Coco at first, her iconic beret missing, her left lens of her sunglasses cracked but intact and her right lens shattered with the middle portion gone entirely, and completely frizzled hair wrapping around her head in a mess.  
The court doors opened up and the humbled Coco watched a first year faunus girl she recognized, sobbing and in cuffs, get escorted past while a violent mob of people attacked her for her heritage and guilty verdict. The heavy gunner cringed. Inside the courtroom was regal and intimidating, tall walls decorated in banners of the richest colors and fabrics complimented the ten foot tall judge's bench stretching from wall to wall at a slim curved length of thirty feet, upon its elaborate geometrically patterned woodworkings sat nine judges, the Vale councilmen, all robed in black. A jury box of two dozen people sat on either side of the room adjacent to the ends of the judge's bench, and on either side of the entrance aisle was a crowded spectator area. Dimmed hanging lights provided enough illumination to make out these details, but the spots of focus were the high hanging spotlights that highlighted the councilmen and the defendant. Coco quickly discovered how hot these spotlights were, probably by design to unease guilty defendants, when her metal jacket was replaced after a quick warning by heavy cuffs and promptly locked to a solid block of dull gray-brown metal a foot thick in both directions and three feet high. It, of course, put her, the defendant, in the direct center of the courtroom as the true center of attention. 

"Ms. Coco Adel, fourth year student of Beacon Academy, former leader of team CFVY, of Vale birth and now defendant in court," spoke the middle judge rapidly, his hands shuffling his massive stack of papers as he did so, "is this, in fact, your identity?" It wasn't a true question, but a formality to ensure they were trying the correct person. Then again, with the number of defendants they had to produce a verdict for counting up into the triple digits, it became less a formality and more of a legitimate concern.

Despite her abundance of ill will, she stood tall, chin level, eyes steady, and hands together at hip level in front of her. "Yes, I am Coco Adel, and what do you mean former?" she spoke steadily. 

"From this day forth, Vale does not recognize team CFVY as a legitimate team on the grounds of a dead member and two fugitives. Also, you do not ask questions." He continued, "due to today's chaotic nature, we will require you to answer statements that will be recorded, and while you are kept in custody all statements and claims will be crosschecked with witnesses, artifacts of evidence, and any investigative organizations in the near future. Coco Adel, you stand suspect of the following crimes; harboring of a potential White Fang agent, Fox Altair, now deceased, harboring of two potential White Fang agents, Yatsuhashi Daichi and Velvet Scarlatina, and assisting in their escape, being a White Fang member, acting accomplice to Ozpin, and property damage. Out of these charges, do you outright confess to any?"

Her heartbeat picked up considerably, and she started sweating. Her eyes scanned the room for a moment, her brain scrambling to form an answer. It was now that she noticed that there was no prosecutor or defense attorney, just her as the defendant versus the council of Vale. She also noticed that, by way of her acute Huntress senses, the judges had air conditioning underneath their bench. The bastards. Still speaking calmly, she said, "I confess to the charge of property damage, committed during the event, the Breach of Vale, where me and my team assisted in combating the Grimm, though all property damage was immediately repaired by Huntress Goodwitch." She let herself catch her breath. "I was not aware of Fox Altair's allegiance until his death, I ordered my teammates to leave Vale, though they and I are not in allegiance with the White Fang."

Several of the council people looked surprised to the confession of two crimes, but the middle speaker remained focused. "And what of your charge of acting accomplice to Ozpin?"

Coco paused. "No. I acted always under my own volition your honors." The middle justice stared at her, and her at him.

"As you are aware, your say so alone is not enough to prove anything, so we will need proof for any claims of innocence. Firstly," he raised the glasses from around his neck to his eyes, "do you have proof of non-cooperation with the White Fang?"

"Yes. I've killed a couple. The raid on a White Fang base last spring in tandem with the Vale military. My two teammates assisted me. It's in the reports." The already loud murmur of the spectators, never not chatting angrily then ascended into shocked reactions to important news the public was never informed on.

"So it would seem," commented the speaker, reading his papers. "And any proof that you did not assist Ozpin knowingly?"

"No your honor."

"And what are the reasons for your orders to your teammates?"

"I didn't wish for my faunus teammate, whom I believe to be innocent, to be wrongfully imprisoned." Coco knew she was in trouble, but hoped that telling the truth, at least mostly, would turns things out for the best.

"I see" the speaker hummed, still looking over his papers. "Does the jury wish to give any input?" He received none. "Very well. Because we are in a rush here, you shall receive a incomplete sentence, which may or may not change in a future court. Coco Adel," he stood up, his neutral demeanor suddenly turned into one of commanding presence, and stated "you are hereby declared guilty of treason on accounts of acting against the wishes of the council and letting flee an enemy of the state. For that, you shall serve ten years in maximum security confinement unless called upon for services prior to release. Investigations into your actions, your teammates, and interactions with Ozpin will possibly alter your sentence. Mind you, anything that works against your case will increase your term. You are dismissed, bring in defendant Ruby Rose." He sat down.

The third year lost the confidence, and grip on reality for that matter that she held a moment before, her jaw agape and her eyes dilated, and didn't notice as she was un-cuffed and put into her old metal jacket. They lead her like a slow cow out of the courtroom when Ruby took her place.   
The four old guards, dressed as if they belonged there, dragged the bloodied, muddied and mangled girl in. A key unlocked the constricting jacket and heavy cuffs took it's place. The hot spotlight made her dizzy for a second.

"The Council of Vale recognizes your abilities and will inform you that any attempt to escape or un-orderly conduct will be met with force. Ms. Ruby Rose, second year student of Beacon Academy, leader of team RWBY, of Vale birth, past and now present defendant in court" the middle judge repeated with haste, stacking a new sheet of paper on the front of his wad, "is this in fact your identity?"

Ruby forgot how dry her mouth and tongue was, and the heat wasn't helping. "Uh, yeah." She leaned into the metal block for support, her whole body weak still. There was no sleep last night, and the dark rings under her eyes proved it.

"Because of today's chaotic nature, a speedy trial is required. We will require you to answer statements that will be recorded, and while you are kept in custody all statements and claims will be crosschecked with witnesses, artifacts of evidence, and any investigative organizations in the near future. Ruby Rose, you stand suspect of the following crimes; assistance to the White Fang during the Breach of Vale, attempted murder on a fellow competitor, Jack Vorst, bouts of insanity, murder of a possibly innocent schoolmate, Fox Altair, lack of morals, espionage on foreign grounds, Atlas, yesterday's murder of a fellow schoolmate, Conner Gardner, acting accomplice to Ozpin, treason by resisting arrest, and property damage. Out of these charges, do you outright confess to any? Mind you, with such serious charges, you may be sentenced to immediate death by execution." 

The courtroom exploded into conversation, the speaker actually using a gavel he had to quell the chaos this time. Ruby however, could only hear the ringing in her ears. Overwhelming frustration and confusion flooded her. How could they accuse her of all those things? It passed ludicrous and straight into insanity as far as she could tell. The moment she could hear again she pressed forward, her chains ringing as she shouted in disbelief "are you freakin' serious!?"

The woman guard on her right whipped out a steel baton and batted Ruby in the right shoulder. Silence broke out in the courtroom along with Ruby's agonized scream as she crumpled onto the metal pedestal. As enraged as the spectators may have been, seeing the petite girl, visible beaten and battered, suffer further abuse irked them.

"That is not helping your case" the councilman adjacent to the speaker advised, a disturbing lack of mercy in his tone. 

The middle man continued. "With so many charges we will work down the list one by one, and you shall have a chance to explain yourself. We expect you to direct us to proof to any claims you make. First, how were you involved in the Breach of Vale? Our reports show that you were on the train that allowed Grimm to attack us."

With wobbly knees, Ruby propped herself against the metal column, and in her now husky voice, said "you assholes should keep reading. I was the one who discovered the White Fang train, but was too injured to prevent it from crashing." She glared at the woman at her side.

"How do we know you aren't lying, and allowed the train to run? Also, any further misconduct will result in discipline."

She had moment where she was stumped, then promptly felt stupid. In her own way, she was grateful to Roman for what he did. "Yeah, the commanding White Fang agent, Roman Torchwick, forcibly removed my eye, that should be in your report too. Maybe it also includes the number of White Fang I've killed." The defiance in her attitude never left. Nor the anger. She needed to know why they wanted her imprisoned so badly if they were picking apart everything she might've ever done. Was it because of Ozpin? But why.

"Fine." He sounded angry. Good, she thought. "Next, last year's Vytal Tournament, you injured your competitor Jack Vorst, almost killing him. What say you?"

"Ironwood is his uncle and parent guardian. He forgave me in his office, the conversation probably was recorded. If not, ask him. Also, his younger brother told me Jack forgave me."

"That is their opinions, what of your actions?"

"I was threatened. Ironwood said he understood. I didn't mean to hurt him, but it turned out that way." 

"Fine. Your previous statement will also be taken into consideration when we question them on a later date. Next, the murder of Fox Altair."

"I was already acquitted of this charge" she half shouted.

"On the graces of a detective and Ozpin, both of which are not in this room right now, and the latter with irrefutable evidence of treason" the speaker barked back. "Besides, the results of Mr. Altair's investigation were inconclusive, meaning your actions are highly suspect. You could easily have been the real serial killer and laid the blame on your last victim, Mr. Altair."

Somewhere in the back, a man spoke just loud enough so Ruby could hear, "disgusting. They keep changing their tune so that they can make these poor girls look as guilty as possible. They don't really care at-"

"Ms. Rose, if you would please respond to the question!" he ordered, pulling her from her eavesdropping.

Ruby shook her head, responding "wasn't there recordings of him killing that couple before I got there?"

The judges all scowled, intimidating Ruby. "There was a recording of you breaking into the building and destroying the doorway to the room where the latest victims died. And there was three dozen eyewitnesses describing how you held Mr. Altair's face to the subway train as it ran by. And let's not forget all the gunshots people heard you fire-"

"My partner Weiss Schnee was almost killed by Fox," interjected the defendant, "and I don't think I have to explain what it would mean for a possible agent of the White Fang to have attacked a well known Schnee, or the implications of my actions to defend such a Schnee." Ruby felt smart, but the middle judge scowled even harder than before.

"Fine," he hissed, face red, "she will be questioned later. Though doctor reports mentioned you being apathetic to your teammates injury in the hospital. Which brings us to the lack of morals..."

"I had comforted her with confidence because I have experienced a similar level of injury," Ruby bit back, turning her head so her head band eye patch was more prominent. "Keeping a cool head is apart of being a huntress in training."

"And the espionage in Atlas? We have reports of you wondering out on the night of the masquerade when a battle took place in the elevator shaft of the Council Tower and a gunfight involving a military grade aircraft and unknown parties. Any snark to explain that?" A malicious grin appeared on his wrinkled face.

"I was nervous, wanted to walk outside to cool my head, didn't go anywhere though." She wished she could take it back. Her hesitation was a dead give away, and while the security system to the tower was down that night, other buildings could've picked her up. Also her immediate callback to keeping a cool head made her previous statement ring hollow. Having your partner almost die should rate higher on a scale of anxiety than an accident in one of the elevators. The thought alone of messing up her defense raised her fear dramatically. Her words were the only thing keeping her from dying. "What gave you the impression that anything I did had anything in the world to do with espionage though?"

"No one and nothing is above suspicion. Any proof that we may look into to show your innocence?"

"No" she quietly answered.

"What was that?"

"No" Ruby repeated. Death by making a stupid mistake is one thing, as it can happen anytime anywhere. Death by combat is another, as it's up to the combatants skills and odds to come out on top or get out. Death by legal system... it had its own oppressive fear. If they arbitrarily decided that one person is to die, then the entire will of the country's government will come together to commit the deed, and if by some miracle that one person escapes, then they will be hunted for the rest of their life. And how it was done just brought more dread to Ruby. The thought of being walked, blindfolded and gagged, hands and feet bound, to one's death with no hope of escape made her sick again. A hunter's death was not pleasant in any manner, barbaric in fact. To overcome any potential strengths of the one in question, the criminal is encased in a steel coffin in such a way where there is no way to break it open by brute force, and then the coffin is flooded with one of two possible liquids. If they are to be cremated, the fluid is kerosene; If they are to be buried, then they are drowned in liquid preservative. You are bound and gagged with no way to struggle in a claustrophobic squeeze where no light shines, and you experience the slow fill of volatile liquid as it soaks your skin and burns, then fills in your ears then your nose, then with no air, no reprieve, you try and squirm for any air left in the coffin but soon discover that the coffin is completely devoid of mercy or life to give, and it's just a matter of giving up as the pain of suffocating crushes your insides. A hunter's death by law is a thing to be feared, and is a serious charge for a serious matter. After all, an insane person is dangerous, an insane, rogue huntsmen is downright catastrophic. Ruby couldn't let herself die like that.

"Well then, with no further evidence on the matter, we will resume this matter on a later date when the recordings from Atlas are delivered to us. You won't need to be here for that trial..." the man smiled. "And then what about the boy you shot yesterday? Hmm? Conner Gardner? What reason did you have to do that? Momentary insanity?" The judge folded his hands, pleased with himself.

"I am not insane!" Ruby shouted defensively.

"Don't you talk back at me!" he roared back, spit flinging from his mouth. The same woman beat her in the ribs this time, then when Ruby was on the ground, she was whacked again on the the shoulder.

"Agh!" the rose screamed, hugging the steel prism for protection and comfort, though she got none. "He was already dead! He was cut in half, he was already dead!"

"Then why did you shoot him!?" a council woman on the end shouted back.

"He was cut in half, but he was still awake, it was an act of Mercy! He was already dead!"

There was a stillness in the courtroom where everyone waited for Ruby to stop crying, for her to stand up for her trial, but for a minute the spectators watched, disturbed, as Ruby sat there broken. Eventually, the sounds of a croaking throat stopped, and she stumbled to her feet. 

"Two matters left. Your resisting arrest. What say you." The speaker was undoubtedly calmer. He needed the favor of the people, and reveling in the pain of a little girl is not one way of getting it.

In ragged murmurs Ruby said, eye closed and gripping her chains, "to enact treason is to disobey the orders and will of the council, and to obey orders is a citizen's job, but my job is also to hunt Grimm, and to hunt Grimm as a huntress is the will of the council, and there were still Grimm to hunt, so I chose the will that allowed me to save whatever people I could..." The judges remained unmoved.

"Final charge that actually matters. Ruby Rose, do you obey the will of Ozpin?"

"I follow orders that fall in line with my job."

"And your job is?"

"To hunt Grimm and those who wish death upon Vale."

"Have you ever followed an order of Ozpin's that did not directly relate to hunting Grimm or the White Fang?"

"No." It sounded as though she might've been whispering under her breath, but her breaths were just becoming that thin.

"Has Ozpin ever ordered you to do something not related to said groupings?"

"No."

"In the charges brought up previously, were you acting under orders of Ozpin?"

"I have only acted under my own volition." The speaker cringed rather loudly.

"Do you have proof?"

A pause. "No."

The air in the room seemed as still as death, and Ruby remained curled up against the post and chain, chest heaving and eye closed. The speaker took his time to think. "With so many matters to investigate outside of this court, Ruby Rose is charged guilty of questionable ethics, and will be held under extreme scrutiny. Until evidence is clarified, she will be contained in a medium security jail cell. Her death sentence remains on the table. Remove her from the courtroom and bring in Glynda Goodwitch."

Out far to the west, a councilman of Vacuo strutted along a raised walkway to the city hall. He was fixing his cloak sized scarf over his paisley vest when his secretary caught up to him. "Sir" she exclaimed, "Atlas has declared full support to Vale's cause!"

"I'm aware" he growled. "This is turning to a shit storm real fast." He towered over the dark skinned and bright haired girl. For every large, lumbering step of his she had to take two, and he was making haste.

"What are we going to do sir?"

"We aren't doing anything, I'm going to make sure we support the faunus." The wind blasted back and forth around them, carrying sand in it's wake and lit gold by the blazing midday sun. The secretary got smacked in the face with his billowing scarf cloak.

"But sir, that's almost the same as declaring war on Vale and Atlas! Even if people wanted to fight, the armed forces are in a deteriorating state! Working it back up to acceptable-"

The rugged man growled. "For my secretary you are really behind the times. You know how we largely ignore the White Fang correct?"

"Can't not know sir!"

"They have been feeding us dust for a while now as gratitude for sanctuary. As both weaponry and a form of currency, we've gotten a little better in the state of military might. For the past few months, we've had foreign private contractors approach our military suppliers with prototype mechs and new arms. I got a call from a friend just yesterday about a batch of... well, mechs that he got from this ginger asshole. We can afford this because of the dust the White Fang gifted us."

"But sir, what about the supposed massacre?" 

He frowned. "Radicals. Besides, one of the other councilmen contacted me when the news first came out. He said the numbers were greatly exaggerated. In fact, I've heard more faunus have died in the reaction then the actual incident. Bottom line is though, we as the voice of Vacuo have prided ourselves on our informalities and freedom of being..."

"Sir I just feel going to war for the White Fang is an overreaction-"

He raised a hand to gesture silence. "Vale and Atlas are going to go full hog. The Second Faunus War is upon us and as I was saying, bottom line, Vacuo works because we make of point of equal opportunity. This kingdom would collapse in moments if we don't give full support to the sizable faunus population that lives here and works here. I know the others are aware of this."

"But sir-" he cringed at her repeated statement, "if Mistral doesn't side with us, it's a three versus one war, we'll be doomed!"

"No, the White Fang is a force of it's own. And I get a feeling Mistral will side with us, making it three versus two. Anyways," they stopped at the doors leading to the open roofed meeting hall, "thanks for being so non-understanding, I got a little time to justify things out loud before I make a fool out of myself."

"But sir!"

"Ozpin..." echoed the voice of the speaker. Nine Vale council people leaned forward on the bench, nine judges stared down a defendant with vindictive intent, and nine people of power sought blood. "The charges against you read as su-"

The headmaster interrupted, posture proud. "Save your breath your honor. I confess to all charges brought against me." 

To say the tired spectators began a roar of surprise would be an understatement. Ozpin was well known and well respected, and though many had doubts about his antics, the protection and services he provided were typically unquestioned. The smile on his lips as he admitted to charges people had yet to truly pin down only furthered the bewilderment.

"Oh? Are you sure you want to make that statement before you even know the charges?" the speaker grinned. The judges looked delighted.

"Let me guess, if you will," Ozpin cleared his throat, "resisting the will of the council and committing such treason on numerous accounts, retaining information requested by the council, acting against orders of the council, making unauthorized operations involving the unsanctioned deaths of enemy combatants, blackmail, irresponsible abuse of power, unethical research, and incomplete paperwork." The gavel struck several times to silence the court. Ozpin then looked to the female council member on the far right, adding "and either sexual harassment or rape of a council member, but that I didn't do. You just want to say that to flatter yourself." She looked ready to rip out his throat.

"Minus that last vulgarity, quite right. And why would you confess to these serious charges?" he asked, genuinely curious.

"I have done everything in my power to piss you people off you see, so I know that now that I am caught, I'm going to be locked away for a very long time. I just want to get this trial out of the way so I can get out from underneath this damned spotlight." Ozpin's confident smirk scared them, and confused the spectators.

"Oh?" a judge laughed, "and how do you know we won't sentence you to death?"

"Because I know too many things. By the way, you might want to add extortion to my charges." 

"And what extent of extortion have you gone to?"

"I threatened the families of everyone I employ into my illegal services." The crowd couldn't burst out anymore, they had been drained of their surprise and just chose to wait for the ensuing twists and turns of what they thought they understood. "The previous defendants have all lied to you your honors. I have forced everyone under me to follow my command, the alternative depending on the degree of trouble they might get in for doing such acts. I've threatened my employees and students with everything ranging from expulsion, blackmail, hurting their families, and occasionally I threaten their lives directly. Such loyal, caring little people they are really. I made sure they knew that if they tattled on me, they would pay dearly. Makes me proud."

"Is that so?" the speaker asked dubiously.

"Yes. You think I got to where I am now by being nice? I'm no different from you scum in the slightest" he replied pleasantly only to say with a grave countenance a moment later, "we're all going to burn the same."

"Ozpin has just been given a life sentence with no chance for further trial headmaster!" shouted the professor in training. She had slammed open the door to the Haven Academy's headmaster's private room, where an older woman sat at her desk, brows furrowed and rubbing her temples furiously.

"The fool!" she shouted back, flipping her desk over with the sound of shattering shot glasses. "Ozpin is a smart man, I'll give him that, but for a smart man he can be a fucking idiot!"

"Not only that, but Vacuo-"

"Has released their statement, I know, the Mistral council is meeting in thirty minutes."

"Are you going?"

The old headmaster gave an incredulous look to her employee. "What do you think? Do you know how bad it would look if a council member didn't show up to one of the most important meetings in decades?"

"What's our course?"

"This massacre is just the excuse the Vale and Atlas council need to commit genocide against the faunus. As much as the White Fang is a nuisance, the citizens of Mistral won't stand for it. More importantly, we need Ozpin, and we need him free. If we need to fight Vale for it, so be it."

Pale blue moonlight was the only illumination Ruby's cellblock was getting at midnight; at least the clouds were parting just a little. She nearly died of shock when the loud clatter of a door to the cell block opened up, but felt indescribable relief to hear Weiss's voice call out her name, "Ruby?" Said girl jumped to her feet and threw herself against the jail cell bars, her metal jacket clinging loudly, and let out a moan to signal her partner. "Ruby! I'm so glad to see you!" the heiress cried without tears, running up to meet her as she did so. "I can't believe the things they've told me" she said, her head nodding back and forth in admitted confusion, "are you alright!?"

Weiss's pale fingers wrapped around the bars, her face inches from the metal. Ruby wobbled in place for a second, then delicately stroked the white fingers with her messy forehead in slow animal like motions, eye closed, smearing the brown of scabbed blood and dirt on them. She didn't care. She just wanted some human touch to appease her ailing senses, a hint of human decency. Weiss looked on at the broken girl with pity she only now discovered she could feel. "I'm not alright, Wei... jus... talk at me..." Ruby mumbled, her throat seizing up in the process that accompanied crying 

The heiress sniffled a little bit. "Okay Ruby" she whispered. "There's bad news though..."

"I know... jus... please... jus... talk..." she silently choked.

"Okay. Well, not all bad news. I guess first thing I should tell you is that, they, the council, allowed me to talk to you all. I mean, I had to plead a little, but they let me on the condition I update you on everything. I... I don't know where to start Ruby-" her mind swirled with news, facts, and figures that she was still having trouble wrapping her mind around, suddenly feeling the urge to leave Ruby in the dark for her own good.

"My..." Ruby coughed, then choked on her tears, "what about... my sentence?"

The heiress gave a long sigh. "Ozpin... said some things. He lied. He lied for us. They changed their minds and are giving some people an option, you and Coco being some of them. Either you can work directly underneath them, and be considered a member of the Vale military, or you can remain in prison indefinitely. It's something... I probably should've mentioned, Vale has declared full war on the faunus. Atlas is joining in tandem. Vacuo and Mistral are going to war against us, and taking the supposed moral high ground." Ruby had yet to lift her head, but Weiss didn't need to see her face to know she was crying. Her whole body shook as tears rolled down one side of her cheek, splashing mute upon the concrete floor. "They're arresting every faunus they can find. We think Blake ran away with Sun, Sun who ran away before they flew him away. Uhm, Velvet and Yatsuhashi, and a few others I think, also escaped. We don't know where they are. Glynda is being instated as headmaster of Beacon, but it's function is going to change, they said." Ruby dropped to her knees, and Weiss wanted to stop, but she remained tall. Her friend needed to know. "Ozpin is being put away for life. Martial law has been instated, and any huntsmen or huntress with questionable allegiance is- oh for the love of- I can't believe I forgot! Pyrrha, Neptune, Scarlet, and Sage are gone too. Jaune told me some soldiers helped her escape, her being from Mistral and all is enough for the council to deem her a threat."

"What about the monster Weiss?" asked the kneeling girl.

"What?"

"The monster, what about the monster?" Perfect teeth flashed in Ruby's mind, forcing her to shudder, and cry some more.

"What monster? The White Fang?" She had the inclination that she was missing something. Bowing down to Ruby's level, her hand reached out and ran its fingers through the prisoner's hair.

"In the village, there was... a baby... a monster... I couldn't- I don't know-" Ruby broke off into hysterics.

Weiss's brow furrowed and focused her eyes, "what do you mean, a small Grimm? Ruby? Ruby! Stay with me, I'm right here!"

Ruby was groveling on the floor at this point, sobbing "I want my dad, my mom! And Qrow and Yang! I want to go home!"

"Look at me!" the duelist snapped. "Ruby, look at me, this is not you!" The young girl's head lifted up, and her eye begged for guidance. Weiss stopped in her tracks, her attention fixated on her eye.

"What Weiss? What?" Ruby whispered through dry lips.

The other shook her head. "Nothing, the lighting in here just throws your colors off. Look, come here." Both girls on their knees and pressed up against the bars, Weiss reached though and hugged Ruby, one hand around her waist and one patting the back of her head. "Things are bad sure," her voice whispered with conviction, "but that doesn't mean we can give up. Soon, you'll be out of here, and we can meet up again. Yang will be there, Blake will come back, Jaune and the others too, I promise you, we're too tough to be put down by a handful of old people in tacky robes."

"They were ugly too" mumbled Ruby.

Weiss nodded. "Yes, old ugly people who don't know which side is buttered. And soon, we'll be back to killing droves of Grimm, right?" Ruby shook her head up and down. "Yeah, that'll be fun right? And then we'll singlehandedly take down the White Fang, like young story heroes, right?" Ruby agreed again. "And then we'll find Roman, and we'll, ha ha, we'll rip his balls off and feed them to him, right?" Ruby nodded again with a smile.

The cellblock guard down the hall in his booth spoke over the intercom "visiting hours are up."

"Dammit. He told though that you'll get bathed, fed, and get medical attention tomorrow. Just how long have you gone without eating Ruby?"

The croak that was "two and a half days" sounded as though it came from a corpse.

"The bastards! I'll bribe them to feed you double, hows that for a St. David's Day gift?" Weiss grinned, but Ruby frowned.

"This is the worst holiday I've ever had." 

"Visiting time is over!" the man reminded them.

"I know!" Weiss belligerently shouted at him. "Time for me to go Ruby, I'll see you soon." More for Ruby's benefit that hers, the white partner pulled the other's head closer to her's, and managed a kiss on the forehead between the bars. "You can make it through this Ruby."

Her arms pulled out and Weiss stood up. White heels clapped loudly against the ground on her way out, the cellblock guard turning his two keys to let the visitor through the two doors. Once out of sight from her friend, she reached behind her into her little dust pouch, retrieving from it a small, plastic, clear, cylindrical bottle with a white cap, and popped it open, taking from it one red and yellow colored pill. Without water, she swallowed it dry and continued on her way.  
Back inside the cell, Ruby clambered onto her small bed stained with other people's fluids. Thinking about Weiss as she closed her eye, she remembered her dream, the good part of it. That in turn reminded her of the masquerade, and the song Weiss sang with Williams. The song Jaune did for Pyrrha, the song they sang together last St. David's day, and all the easily forgotten moments between friends they shared, trivial and unimportant, where words in tune were spoken to tell each other 'everything is alright right now. Right now, we may relax.'   
Things were different now.  
Between the new war, the new hate, the new threats, and the new monster, it's surreal existence edging towards toppling their perception of reality, the tree they knew as life, each leaf and flower it's own person, had just bloomed. And as things that bloom go, the day they wilt and die follow soon thereafter. At least, that is how Ruby felt. She for the first time, truly, without a direct threat in front of her, felt afraid. Afraid of death, to her and her companions. She wanted to believe in Weiss's words, to trust everything will be alright, but there was no way that could be in their situation.  
Any songs they would have sung had come to past, and with the dawn of a new time, the only music would be the full ensemble orchestra of war. 

Out west, Roman had perched himself atop a tall sand dune, the winds still blowing moonlit sand like tendrils of magic through the air. Spaced around him were his own companions, all looking up to the topless man, sunburned and nervous. "Well I need to make the call, but I'm kinda nervous" he spoke solidly to overcome the loud breeze. 

Perry threw off his mask, the sweat on it cold from the desert chill and the salt burning in his imperfect eyes. "Just do it Roman, we did as we were told." The wolf faunus beside him nodded in agreement.

"Neo, are you ready for what's to come?" he asked, somewhat seriously. She gave a estranged look, one that asked if he himself was. He didn't respond. "Well here goes." He dialed his scroll and lifted it to his ear. Cinder's voice crackled on the other side.

"Roman." She leaned back on the bunkbed of their cabin, Emerald massaging the older woman's feet while Mercury oiled his mechanical legs.

"Cinder. We sold all the merchandise."

"How did they react?" The others could hear her voice, and took to putting their hands on their hips and leaning forward to listen in.

"I made sure to ask for enough so they didn't think I was trying to give them away. They thought we were legitimate."

"Good. All of our plans seemed to have worked out. The four kingdoms have pitted themselves against each other."

"Well shit, everything worked out? That's... actually hard to believe, alot of the chips seemed more left to chance than anything." He raised his brow to the other three, Perry shrugging in return and mouthing 'I know right?'

"..."

"Cinder?"

"I could feel Amber die." There was... sorrow in her voice? Roman was confused. Emerald and Mercury stopped what they were doing and looked to her.

"That's good right? You inherited her power?"

"That's the problem, someone else must've gotten it. Now we have to find out who has the second part." Roman heard Mercury groan in the background.

"Along with the winter and spring maidens. Great."

"If anything, this war should draw them out. Hmph, it drew him out."

Roman shivered, and it wasn't because he was half clothed. "He came out?"

"He had some fun it seems, even played around with that Ruby girl I heard. The one you-"

"Red, I know. Shit."

"I know. Salem is throwing a fit, but Dante and the wonder triplets are ecstatic."

Roman frowned. The thought of Ms. Molly, Sham, and Alice being excited happened made him uncomfortable. "And Adam?"

"Couldn't care less. I'm beginning to question his frame of mind. I'm starting to think that faunus girl was a mental crutch."

His scroll beeped at him. "Cinder, my scroll's almost dead. Send me my next assignment."

"Fine. You better start heading back to Vacuo. We're going to Mistral."

His chest pivoted towards the south west. "We never got too far. Roman out." The white device slipped comfortably into his pants. A sigh. "Clowns to the left of me, and jokers to the right-"

"The thief he kindly spoke."

Roman nodded his head. "Shut up Perry."

-One Week Later-

She did not know why, but for one reason or another, Ozpin's chair had been laying on it's side when she finally got back to the office tower. With a little effort, she flipped the chair back upright, and took residence in it. The sky outside was on and off cloudy, but heavy winds made sure to make themselves an annoyance to some. The chair swiveled, and the newly instated headmaster faced a crowded room of anxious faces. Her chin rested on both hands. Before her stood but a fraction of Beacon's student body, it's dignity well destroyed. There was Yang and Weiss; team JNPR minus Pyrrha; all of team BNSH, Ben, Nola, Flaxi, and Sandel; team CRDL minus the long dead Sky Lark and the imprisoned Robin Pine; a notable third year team; and first year team ORCA, whom made good impressions in recent months.

"You all are here..." she began, but stopped with a lack of enthusiasm. Impatient ears twitched, her silence reminding them somehow of defeat. Her green eyes darted to and fro across Ozpin's glass desk, the slow churning of the gears making her realize how long she was taking to speak. "Listen," she started again, this time her tone more angry, terse, and less patient, "the council has repurposed Beacon to be the training grounds for the oncoming waves of draftees. All general purpose wartime training." She slammed her scroll open onto the desk, her finger flicking around with precise intent.   
"People wouldn't want their children going to this school anyways after Ozpin's scene. That means, I'm no longer your teacher. That doesn't mean that Ozpin or I am giving up on you. Of all the students who were attending Beacon, you are the ones who showed the most talent, the most ambition, and the most promise, and who are still left standing after the council had it's way with us," they shifted uncomfortably, she gave a dirty look to Cardin and his team, continuing with tired acknowledgment "as much as I hate to admit for some of you." Her words cut like the disappointed comments their mothers made about them every time they stole from the cookie jar as kids.  
"As such, first things first. None of you are huntsmen and huntresses in training." A finger hit a her screen with heavy grace, and every scroll in the room buzzed. "You are all now Huntsmen and Huntresses." The teens looked between each other in mild surprise. "Normally, that would mean a lot of good things, but with martial law, all it means is that you can't be drafted, and have a pick of options when military options come begging for your help. If you choose to refuse, they can call treason. But know this; they will expect you to fight their enemy, whomever that may be, but you all came to this academy for, hopefully, one reason above all. You were born to hunt Grimm."

"Damn straight" murmured Nora. A wave of head nods ensued.

Glynda waved a hand towards her, to which a woman of curly blonde hair who had been standing in the back of the room stepped forward. Yang recognized her from the masquerade. "With all the negativity that Remnant will bring by war, we can expect a vast increase in Grimm attacks, and we'll experience more large Grimm than any of you have seen in your lives. This is Gwen Rush, a head designer of the Excalibur company. She's also Lance's mother for those of you who knew him" she added off handedly. "The world needs every person capable of taking down Grimm it can get, and she has offered to make weaponry for those who are willing to carry extra weight along with the responsibility. Not all of us are like Ruby or Blake who apparently can take out a pack of Goliaths." Weiss and Yang grinned proudly, and even Glynda had the hint of a smile on her lips. "Mrs. Rush will allow you to do so." Whispers among the students picked up. "Along with that, I have taken the liberty to attach recommendations to your upgrade statuses, so that if you wish to seek military training, they'll be hard pressed to turn you down."

The elevator door opened, Huntsmen Qrow taking long strides towards the student body. "Sup Yang." The others eyed him.

"Uncle Qrow? What are you-"

"This is Qrow, acquaint yourselves with him. If you wish, he will give you all the chance to take missions more appropriate to your skill sets. Instead of killing fellow kingdom men, you'll fight more Grimm than anything, as we should be doing. That is all I have to say." She left them hanging with a faint smile.

"Unless you like that sort of thing, killing people and the sort" he postulated in his ashy voice. "In that case, don't talk to me...", he raised his flask hand, paused, added "you freaks," then finished the motion. His flask emptied it's contents in sparse drip-lets, leaving him saddened and pessimistic.

A shower of rain slammed into the wide windows, the rain gone a moment later. "Thank you, Glynda," spoke Jaune as he stepped forward. "You'll treat this place well in Ozpin's stead." The other's spoke up in agreement while his hand reached out for a handshake. 

"Thank you Mr. Arc." She gripped hard and shook gently. "I imagine that you'll be fighting so that our friends can return home when it all ends?" He nodded. "Do you have the aptitude to do what it takes?" Of all her students, the knight had started off with less skill and confidence than anyone else who had come as far as he did, and thusly she showed concern.

Jaune thought about his friends, both Ruby and Pyrrha, Blake, team SSSN, Coco too, and all the other faces he knew, and how without them, Vale felt empty. He sighed. Nora laid a hand on his shoulder from behind. If he had to fight a war to see them again, so be it. "Grimm, human, faunus, doesn't matter. We'll sort them out" Jaune declared stoically.

Weiss rolled her eyes and folded her arms. "Well, lets at least hope we don't have to do anything too extreme. I'd like to die without regrets thank you very much." A round of low laughter followed.

"Hmph" the tall engineer chortled, "alrighty then, let's get you kittens suited for war."

-End The Songs We'd Sing-

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey folks, I know I almost never say anything, but I feel now is an appropriate time. Thank you all for reading my story thus far, it means a lot that you guys have stuck with me for so many chapters and so many words. I won't ask for kudos or comments or anything, I just hope you'll all enjoy the next part of the story, and follow our own little adventure.


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